The Biden administration's most senior diplomat began in Istanbul, meeting Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan, a strong critic of Israel's military actions in Gaza, for talks.
Blinken and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had earlier discussed the war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza and Turkey's process to ratify Sweden's membership of NATO, Turkey's foreign ministry said in a statement.
US officials have been frustrated by the lengthy process, but are confident Ankara will soon approve Sweden's accession after it won the Turkish parliament's backing last month, said a senior State Department official traveling with Blinken, speaking on condition of anonymity.
US lawmakers have held up the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey until it signs off on the addition of Sweden to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. READ MORE
