US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has confirmed that Washington asked Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan for help in convincing Hamas to return to the negotiating table with Israel to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.
Several Turkish media, including the daily Akşam, echoed statements made by Blinken during his last press appearance before the inauguration of the new Trump administration, in which he spoke about the war in Ukraine and peace negotiations in Gaza.
‘I have full confidence that the ceasefire in Gaza will be implemented on Sunday (according to the agreement)…. It is not a surprise that some issues arise in such a complex and sensitive negotiation process. We are working to solve these problems rapidly,’ Blinken told reporters, to whom he reportedly confessed that he spoke to Erdoğan to convince the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas to return to the negotiating table, asking him to use his influence so that an agreement could be reached.
‘We asked Erdoğan to convince Hamas. And he did it’
‘We also met with other actors, such as President Erdoğan, and asked him to use his influence to bring Hamas back to the table and try to close a deal. And he did,’ Blinken said, adding that after contacts with Turkey‘s president, the Palestinian group agreed to return to negotiations with Israel.
Last December, Antony Blinken visited Turkey, where he met with Erdoğan and the Turkish foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, and discussed issues such as the situation in Syria after the fall of Assad or the conflict between Hamas and Israel in Gaza.
During his final appearance as US Secretary of State, Blinken’s speech was interrupted several times by journalists who accused him of complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza, shouting ‘Why aren’t you in The Hague?’ One of the journalists had to be forcibly removed from the room by the security personnel.
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Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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