By Humeyra Pamuk
INCIRLIK AIR BASE,&nbsp;Turkey&nbsp;(Reuters) -U.S.&nbsp;Secretary&nbsp;of&nbsp;State&nbsp;Antony&nbsp;Blinken&nbsp;on&nbsp;Sunday&nbsp;announced&nbsp;further&nbsp;aid&nbsp;to&nbsp;Turkey&nbsp;and&nbsp;said&nbsp;Washington&nbsp;would&nbsp;provide&nbsp;longer&nbsp;term&nbsp;help&nbsp;to&nbsp;Ankara&nbsp;as it&nbsp;seeks&nbsp;to&nbsp;rebuild&nbsp;following&nbsp;this&nbsp;month's&nbsp;earthquake.
A 7.8 magnitude&nbsp;earthquake&nbsp;struck&nbsp;Turkey's southeast&nbsp;and&nbsp;neighbouring Syria on Feb. 6, killing more than 45,000 people&nbsp;and&nbsp;leaving a million-plus homeless, with the economic cost of the disaster expected to run into billions of dollars.
Blinken&nbsp;arrived at Incirlik Air Force Base on&nbsp;Sunday&nbsp;for an official visit&nbsp;and&nbsp;discussions on how&nbsp;Washington&nbsp;can&nbsp;further&nbsp;assist.
From Incirlik, he took a helicopter ride with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to observe from above the devastation caused by the&nbsp;earthquake&nbsp;in the southern Hatay province, one of the hardest hit.
Reporters on the tour saw the uneven toll from the massive quake, with some buildings standing but with collapsed roofs&nbsp;and&nbsp;shattered windows. Other residential buildings leaned heavily to one side after lower levels had collapsed,&nbsp;and&nbsp;blue&nbsp;and&nbsp;white tents housing survivors were set up among the rubble.&nbsp;
"It's really hard to put into words. You see buildings still standing&nbsp;and&nbsp;then buildings collapsed, roofs destroyed&nbsp;and&nbsp;right next to it, something that's still standing,"&nbsp;Blinken&nbsp;told reporters at the base, which&nbsp;Washington&nbsp;has used as a de facto headquarters to conduct its relief effort.
Almost two weeks after the&nbsp;earthquake,&nbsp;search&nbsp;and&nbsp;rescue operations are coming to an end, but&nbsp;Blinken&nbsp;said&nbsp;the United&nbsp;States&nbsp;would&nbsp;continue to&nbsp;help&nbsp;what he said&nbsp;would&nbsp;be "a long-term&nbsp;effort."
"When you see the extent of the damage, the number of buildings, the number of apartments, the number of homes that have been destroyed, it is going to take a massive effort to&nbsp;rebuild&nbsp;but we are committed to supporting&nbsp;Turkey&nbsp;in&nbsp;that&nbsp;effort," he said.
"The most important thing right now is getting assistance to people ... Simply put, the United&nbsp;States is here."
Since the&nbsp;earthquake,&nbsp;the United&nbsp;States has sent a search&nbsp;and&nbsp;rescue team to&nbsp;Turkey, along with medical supplies, concrete-breaking machinery&nbsp;and&nbsp;additional funding of $85 million in humanitarian&nbsp;aid&nbsp;that also covers Syria.
Blinken&nbsp;also said&nbsp;that President Joe Biden intends to authorise $50 million in Emergency Refugee&nbsp;and&nbsp;Migration Assistance Funds (ERMA) in response to&nbsp;earthquake&nbsp;in&nbsp;Turkey&nbsp;and&nbsp;Syria.
With the additional $50 million delivered through the&nbsp;State&nbsp;Department&nbsp;and&nbsp;USAID, total&nbsp;U.S. humanitarian assistance to support the&nbsp;earthquake&nbsp;response in&nbsp;Turkey&nbsp;and&nbsp;Syria reached $185 million, the&nbsp;U.S.&nbsp;State&nbsp;Department said.
LONG-DELAYED VISIT
Blinken&nbsp;will hold&nbsp;further&nbsp;bilateral talks in&nbsp;Ankara&nbsp;on Monday with Cavusoglu&nbsp;and&nbsp;he is also expected to meet Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, sources familiar with the planning said.
Blinken's first visit to&nbsp;Turkey&nbsp;as&nbsp;secretary&nbsp;of&nbsp;state&nbsp;had been planned for some time, but is only taking place two years after he took office.
That is in stark contrast with some of his predecessors, including Hillary Clinton&nbsp;and&nbsp;Rex Tillerson, who visited within the first three months of their&nbsp;terms.
The delay, analysts say, shows the strained nature of the relationship, which has soured since 2019 when&nbsp;Ankara&nbsp;acquired Russian missile defense systems.
While the United&nbsp;States has praised&nbsp;Turkey&nbsp;for some of its actions during Russia's invasion of Ukraine, it remains concerned about its close relationship with Moscow, experts say.
Talks between&nbsp;Washington&nbsp;and&nbsp;Ankara&nbsp;are also expected to address the stalled NATO applications of Sweden&nbsp;and&nbsp;Finland, which&nbsp;Turkey&nbsp;has so far refused to ratify, saying Stockholm in particular has harboured what it calls members of terrorist groups.
Erdogan last month said&nbsp;he was open to ratifying only Helsinki's application.
Sweden&nbsp;and&nbsp;Finland&nbsp;applied last year to join the trans-Atlantic defense pact after Russia invaded Ukraine but faced unexpected objections from&nbsp;Turkey&nbsp;and&nbsp;have since sought to win its support.
Ankara&nbsp;wants Helsinki&nbsp;and&nbsp;Stockholm to take a tougher line against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is considered a terror group by&nbsp;Turkey&nbsp;and&nbsp;the European Union,&nbsp;and&nbsp;another group it blames for a 2016 coup attempt.
(Reporting by Humeyra PamukEditing by Daniel Wallis, David Goodman, Barbara Lewis&nbsp;and&nbsp;Deepa Babington)

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Blinken to Turkey: 'the United States is here' with aid