U.S. will back quake-hit Turkey “as long as it takes”, Blinken says
4:50 am Monday, February 20th, 2023
ANKARA (Reuters) – The United States will support Turkey “for as long as it takes” after its devastating earthquakes, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday, while his Turkish counterpart said there was no need to wait for a disaster to improve ties.
Blinken was speaking after his visit on Sunday to the quake zone, where rescue work was winding down two weeks after the worst disaster in the country’s modern history. The quakes killed more than 46,000 people in Turkey and northwest Syria.
“The United States and Turkey do not agree on every issue but it is a partnership that has withstood against challenges,” Blinken told a joint news conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara.
Total U.S. humanitarian assistance to support the earthquake response in Turkey and Syria has reached $185 million, the U.S. State Department has said.
Relations between the NATO allies have been strained since 2019 when Ankara acquired Russian missile defense systems, among other sources of tension between them.
Cavusoglu told reporters he had discussed a planned $20 billion deal for U.S. F-16 warplanes with Blinken, and said that Turkey would like the U.S. administration to send the formal notification for the F-16s to Congress.
He added that Ankara expected support from Congress to push through the deal.
Standing alongside Blinken, Cavusoglu said it was not possible for Turkey to purchase F-16 warplanes with pre-conditions and that he believed the issue can be overcome if the U.S. administration maintains a decisive stance.
(Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever, Humeyra Pamuk and Ezgi Erkoyun; Writing by Daren Butler and Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Jonathan Spicer)
