American Foreign Minister Anthony Blinken is heading to Turkey, after his trip to Israel. However, according to Turkish media, it was forced to make an emergency stop at the Souda base in Crete. The flight plan of the US minister, who had previously made a brief stopover in Cyprus while expected in Ankara, caused tension on Turkish social media, as Turkey does not accept direct flights from Larnaca.
According to the Cyprus News Agency, retired admiral Jihat Yaytzi from social media raised the question “if Foreign Minister Blinken will fly directly from “southern Cyprus” to Ankara” while commenting that “if it is true, no aircraft from ” “South Cyprus administration” has not yet landed at our airports. We hope that what has not been implemented so far, will not be implemented for Blinken.”
In fact, the aircraft was recorded by Flightradar 24 flying towards Chania airport, while after a while its trace disappeared from the application.
Erdogan avoids the meeting
Blinken arrives in Turkey tonight and will meet his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan tomorrow.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan avoided meeting the US secretary, citing a visit to the northeastern Turkish city of Ayder, on Monday.
Before Erdogan’s statements, Blinken’s entourage had expressed optimism about a possible meeting with the Turkish president.
