US Secretary of State Antony Blinken holds tough talks in Turkiye today, aimed at soothing the anger of one of Washington’s most strategic but difficult allies about the bloodshed in Gaza.

Blinken’s first visit since Israel went to war with Hamas in reprisal for the group’s October 7 attack comes with fury at both Israel and the West boiling over on the streets of Turkiye and inside the palace of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan himself plans to travel across Turkey’s remote northeast today in a seeming snub of Washington’s top diplomat.

Blinken’s talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan were set to be packed with problems even before Israel launched a relentless bombing and expanding ground campaign, which it says is aimed at eradicating Hamas.

The war threatens to have broad repercussions on Washington’s relations with Turkiye — a Nato member with a muscular foreign policy and stakes in conflicts across the Middle East.