ANKARA — When Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken first deliberate a visit to Turkey, it promised to be a troublesome, even contentious diplomatic go to.

Washington and Ankara have been at odds on a number of vital points, together with Turkey’s ties to Russia, its refusal to permit Sweden and Finland to affix NATO and the authoritarian drift of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey has been so exasperating in so some ways in recent times that Mr. Blinken, in his affirmation listening to, referred to Ankara as a “so-called ally,” and in two years had not visited.

However lower than two weeks earlier than Mr. Blinken was attributable to arrive, a devastating earthquake in Turkey left greater than 40,000 individuals useless. The catastrophe pushed different issues to the background quickly, providing the Biden administration an opportunity to strengthen an previous alliance and earn some belief as they attempt to resolve their disputes.

America mobilized a significant reduction effort, sending elite search-and-rescue groups, heavy tools, $85 million in humanitarian help and not less than one other $80 million in personal donations. When Mr. Blinken landed at Incirlik Air Base close to the Turkish metropolis of Adana on Sunday, he toured close by earthquake injury by helicopter and U.S. army reduction efforts on the base earlier than saying one other $100 million in American help.

At a information convention in Ankara on Monday alongside Turkey’s international minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, Mr. Blinken spoke like an unconditionally loving good friend.

“America is right here to assist you in your time of want, and we shall be by your aspect for so long as it takes to get better and rebuild,” he mentioned. Hours later, a strong, 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck close to the already devastated metropolis of Antakya in southern Turkey, inflicting extra buildings to break down.

Mr. Blinken’s message was reciprocated. Requested whether or not the American help would make fixing different issues simpler, Mr. Cavusoglu replied that “in fact the solidarity that has been prolonged throughout troublesome occasions can have a constructive impact on relations.”

That’s excellent news for the Biden administration. Whereas U.S. officers discover Mr. Erdogan to be routinely irritating, they will’t afford to show their backs on a rustic whose location and NATO membership give it monumental strategic significance. Washington additionally values Turkey’s affect within the Muslim world.

And, most not too long ago, Mr. Erdogan has provided himself as a possible peace mediator between Russia and Ukraine, and he brokered an important deal between them to permit for the cargo of desperately wanted Ukrainian meals merchandise to the skin world.

But a bare-bones State Division readout of Mr. Blinken’s assembly on Monday with the Turkish chief provided few hints about whether or not, regardless of the great will america is incomes at a second of nationwide tragedy, the boys made any actual progress towards resolving the numerous underlying disputes between their nations.

Most urgent is the query of NATO growth to incorporate Finland and Sweden, two nations that dropped their longstanding coverage of nonalignment in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The growth plan was unveiled with a lot fanfare 9 months in the past and celebrated by President Biden as a significant setback for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

However including new nations to NATO requires the unanimous approval of its 30 member states, and to date, Mr. Erdogan has refused. He stunned Western leaders with bitter complaints that Sweden and Finland have been too accommodating of the Kurdistan Staff’ Occasion, or P.Ok.Ok., a Kurdish nationalist group that has lengthy staged assaults inside Turkey and that each Ankara and Washington think about a terrorist group.

The Turkish chief remains to be holding out after months of negotiations, regardless of guarantees by the Swedes and Finns to take a tougher line on P.Ok.Ok. activists and supporters working inside their borders. Turkey has demanded that they be extradited to face prosecution. (Turkey now says its points with Finland are largely resolved however that Sweden has far more to do.)

Some U.S. officers imagine Mr. Erdogan, could also be posturing forward of nationwide elections scheduled for Might. After 20 years in energy, he has declined in recognition and is in search of one other time period as president. However nobody is bound what, precisely, is on Mr. Erdogan’s thoughts.

In Congress, lawmakers have begun signaling to Mr. Erdogan that he could pay a steep value for his obstruction: 27 senators of each events signed a letter in early February vowing to dam the Biden administration from promoting F-16 fighter jets to Turkey until Mr. Erdogan indicators off on Swedish and Finnish membership.

On Monday, Mr. Blinken famous that Biden administration helps the fighter jet sale, saying you will need to the U.S. that its NATO allies have fashionable, built-in tools. Though he mentioned that the Biden administration doesn’t hyperlink the proposed sale to Sweden and Finland becoming a member of NATO, he added that he had been discussing the matter with Congress and expressed confidence that the brand new candidates would ultimately be admitted.

However standing beside him, Mr. Cavusoglu provided no trace that Turkey was ready to yield, and complained that pro-P.Ok.Ok. “actions are persevering with” in Stockholm.

Mr. Cavusoglu additionally instructed that the Biden administration can strong-arm Congress to safe the F-16 sale if it chooses. “If the U.S. administration has a agency stance and if we work collectively, we imagine that we will overcome this resistance,” he mentioned.

Mr. Cavusoglu did acknowledge, in response to a query, that U.S. officers had expressed concern that commerce between Russia and his nation — which has not signed on to the Western sanctions in opposition to Moscow — had boomed because the begin of the struggle in Ukraine, serving to to fill Russia’s struggle coffers.

However he sought to downplay the difficulty, saying that figures displaying a surge in commerce between Turkey and Russia largely mirrored greater power costs. He mentioned claims that Turkey has been a conduit for military-capable know-how denied to Russia by sanctions have been “not right,” and that Turkey would take motion in opposition to any demonstrated violations.

Mr. Blinken made no remark about different friction factors. One is Mr. Erdogan’s authoritarian model of politics, which has featured a harsh clampdown on Turkey’s civil society, information media and political opposition, and led Turkey to be excluded from a democracy summit Mr. Biden hosted on the White Home final 12 months.

Nor did Mr. Blinken point out issues in Washington that the Turkish chief may use the earthquake as a pretext to droop his nation’s spring elections for self-interested causes.

The secretary appeared extra decided on this journey in spotlighting America’s post-earthquake response. After touring quake injury with Mr. Cavusoglu in a Turkish army helicopter, Mr. Blinken joined a line of NATO troopers loading bins of electrical and gasoline heaters onto a flatbed truck for distribution. He then personally thanked the 2 80-person American search-and-rescue groups who deployed to Turkey simply after the quake struck.

Mr. Blinken additionally gave the impression to be providing good will one other approach: by saying his host nation’s identify according to its authorities’s desire. The Turks wish to the world to cease utilizing a reputation that in English is an ungainly, flight-challenged chicken, and generally an insult.

For greater than a 12 months, the federal government requested that the nation be recognized internationally as “Türkiye,” with three syllables, as it’s in Turkish, and it now makes use of that identify on the United Nations. The U.S. State Division formally started utilizing it final month.

In his remarks, Mr. Blinken took care to undertake the brand new pronunciation.