What did we give to the US, what did we get?

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Istanbul over the weekend. He met with both Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Erdoğan at the Vahdettin Pavilion.

However, neither the Presidency nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs provided a detailed statement regarding the content of these meetings. Diplomatic sources only provided information that "Gaza, the purchase of F-16s, and Sweden's NATO membership process were discussed" during the Fidan-Blinken meeting.

As a result, unlike his visit in November, the pro-government media could not conjure up epics of success or victory (!) from this visit by Blinken.

THESE ARE DREAMS

But there were those who took it upon themselves to write about their "dreams" regarding the Fidan-Blinken meeting. For example, one person, after claiming that Blinken was "poorly" greeted at the airport only by the US Ambassador—even though that was not the case—imagined that Hakan Fidan said the following to Blinken:

"I cannot say welcome to you because you have not brought anything good to any place you have set foot on in this world. While a child dies every 10 minutes in Gaza, you single-handedly blocked the UN's ceasefire call. You are the architect of the genocide in Gaza along with Israel. You are here as the foreign minister of a country that sends ten thousand truckloads of weapons to the terrorist organization that martyred our soldiers, that committed the folly of putting a sack over the heads of our Mehmetçik (Turkish soldiers), that orchestrated all the coups and uprisings in Turkey, that feeds and fattens FETÖ, that establishes bases in Greece targeting Turkey, and that does not provide the warplanes and air defense systems we paid for despite us being a NATO member. I will not be so rude as to ask you, 'With what face did you come?' That would not suit us. However, this meeting is over here. I recommend that you leave the pavilion now and spend the time you set aside for the meeting touring Istanbul. So that you can lament plenty, saying, 'How can such a beautiful, such a rich, and such a strategic city not be under our dominion?' I would have liked to assign a Turkish foreign ministry employee to act as your guide. But just as with your reception, no volunteer came forward for this either. Now... Goodbye..."

Another writer recalled that Blinken was not received by Erdoğan during his previous visit and said, "They got the message. This time, he was accepted into the office."

THESE ARE THE FACTS

I wonder, what message from Ankara had the US administration received that he was worthy of being received by Erdoğan this time?

Is Gaza the government's "reddest line"? We saw in Israel, where Blinken completed his regional tour; to use the words of the pro-government media again, he "reiterated his full support for the terrorist state"...

Is it the resolution of the F-16 sale? Neither Blinken's nor the US Embassy's statements and posts contained even an "F" for F-16s...

It was seen that their primary concern was Sweden's NATO membership!..

Blinken already stated clearly, "We discussed the final steps regarding Sweden's accession to NATO in the coming weeks in Turkey."

So, what should we say about the fact that even in the statement made by our diplomatic sources, there was no mention of support for the PKK/YPG, which is the most vital issue in our relations with the US? I suppose hopes have now been completely exhausted. If so, what is the rationale for still acting as a cheerleader for the US-NATO and chasing after F-16s?

Yet, shortly before Blinken's visit, we had 12 martyrs in northern Iraq. And as if mocking us, the US shared images of itself providing weapons training to PKK terrorists after this incident. A detail in those images emerged yesterday. The map hanging in the place where that training was given showed Hatay as belonging to Syria.

DOES IT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE VISITS?

In summary, it seems that no tangible results came out of these visits by Blinken. Or is that the case? Let us draw attention to two details that are not much on the agenda.

You may remember that Metin Topuz, an employee of the US Consulate General in Istanbul, was detained in 2017 on charges of "espionage and attempting to overthrow the constitutional order," arrested in 2020, and sentenced to 8 years and 9 months in prison.

During that process, Erdoğan also said that Topuz's arrest showed that "something was going on" at the Consulate General, stating, "How did these agents infiltrate the American Consulate General? If they didn't infiltrate, who let them in here? These need to be looked into. No state would allow these agents who would threaten it from within."

The US, just as in the Pastor Brunson incident, stood behind Topuz and demanded his release. As a reaction to Turkey, it suspended non-immigrant visa applications for a while.

Coming to the present day; it turned out that Topuz, who had been imprisoned for 3 years, was released about 20 days after Blinken's Ankara visit on November 5-6. The US media, which announced the development, used the following expressions:

"The news came at a time when President Erdoğan's government is seeking F-16 fighter jets from the Biden administration and trying to attract foreign investors."

It has been 1.5 months since the claim. We do not know whether Topuz was released or not; because there has been no statement from Ankara!..

As for the second detail; as is known, the government's most important issue with the US is the Halkbank case.

Indeed, in the report titled "White House for Sale: How Princes, Prime Ministers, and Leaders Bribed President Trump," prepared by the Democratic Party team of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, the contacts between Erdoğan and Trump regarding this case were also extensively covered.

And here, following Blinken's visit over the weekend, a small development occurred on this matter as well. It was announced that one of the three compensation lawsuits filed against the bank by a group of plaintiffs in the US—not the main Halkbank case—had been dropped.

We cannot know whether the Metin Topuz and Halkbank incidents have anything to do with Blinken's arrival or if it is entirely a coincidence; but it is understood that, unlike Trump, the Biden Administration does not resolve certain legal issues using the "in-your-face" method.