Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is due to travel to the United States on Thursday at the invitation of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Fidan will also be meeting with US national security adviser Jake Sullivan and various senators, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
Fidan is currently in Jeddah for a meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference where he met with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. His trip to the United States will come on the heels of a visit by Turkish spy chief Ibrahim Kalin, whose meetings in Washington included one with his counterpart, William Burns.
This will be Fidan’s first trip to Washington since Turkey bowed to US pressure and approved Sweden’s NATO membership in January.
In exchange, the US Congress acquiesced to the State Department’s demands that it ease military sanctions on Turkey to allow the sale of 40 F-16 fighter jets and 79 modernization kits for Ankara’s existing fleet.
