Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The two top diplomats were in the country for talks on the fate of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. No official statements were made about the meeting.
Fidan has been in touch with Blinken since the new round of conflict began on Oct. 7, but the two men have rarely met in person. Blinken made his first visit to Türkiye since the conflict began last January, in a low-profile visit where he was not received by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Erdoğan himself was expected to fly to the United States for his first official visit to White House under Joe Biden administration but this was postponed recently.
The two countries have differing views on the conflict, with Türkiye openly supporting Hamas, while the United States is a major supporter of Israel.
Fidan on Sunday met with his counterparts from Norway, Jordan and Yemen as well as EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh. He was in Riyadh to attend a meeting of the Gaza Contact Group, established by Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and Arab League to address the conflict.
"We agreed on the urgency to address regional issues and in particular to end the suffering in Gaza," Borrell said on X after the meeting.
During his meeting with Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and Yemeni Foreign Minister Shaya Mohsin Zindani, Fidan drew attention to the increasing global reactions to Israel's ongoing attacks in Gaza. Fidan also stressed the need to increase pressure on Israel to stop attacks on the besieged Palestinian enclave. The foreign ministers also discussed steps that could be taken for the recognition of the state of Palestine by more countries.
