Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Participating in the meeting of the two leaders were the two countries’ foreign ministers, George Gerapetritis and Hakan Fidan.
It was the sixth meeting of the two leaders in a year.
Mitsotakis seeks Erdogan’s assurance of ‘calm waters’ in the Aegean
The Greek side’s goal is to reconfirm the willingness to preserve calmness in the Aegean and the East Mediterranean, to follow up on political dialog, and at the same time to promote soft diplomacy issues.
According to Greek government sources, there was a general review of Greek-Turkish relations with an emphasis on the migration issue. In terms of the maritime zones, there will be an evaluation of the issue following the meeting. Mitsotakis and Erdogan discussed the timeline for the political dialog, the positive agenda, and confidence-building measures.
“The timeline of meetings does not depend on American elections,” a government source said, according to the Athens Macedonia News Agency (AMNA).
“We shall evaluate facts after the meeting and examine the issues in depth. During a very turbulent period and the Middle East crisis, the fact we can discuss all these issues is a positive achievement. It has a positive effect on the positive agenda, even on issues we disagree on, so we are not led to an escalation in the field.”
Mitsotakis is believed to have raised the Cyprus issue during the meeting. Athens is cautiously optimistic about the restart of talks on the Cyprus issue, and fully supports the efforts of the UN secretary general for a trilateral meeting between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot sides, in the presence of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides has expressed optimism that, in New York, progress could be made towards restarting talks on the Cyprus issue.
Speaking at a Cypriots of New York event in Queens on Sunday, the President said he is working intensively on cooperation with Greece to achieve this goal and that he expects that, during the week, there will be specific developments regarding Cyprus.
“With perseverance and the stubbornness that characterizes us, with unwavering determination, we have succeeded in these 18 months, with your help, to rekindle international interest in the Cyprus issue,” Christodoulides told attendees.
“I really hope [after the meetings] to have concrete announcements for the resumption of negotiations, or at least a joint meeting,” he said.
Earlier on Tuesday in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly, Erdogan reiterated his harsh criticism on Israel over its military campaign in the Gaza strip and on the Western countries for their support to Israel.
“Along with children in Gaza, the United Nations system is also dying, the truth is dying, the values that the West claims to defend are dying, the hopes of humanity to live in a fairer world are dying one by one,” Erdogan said.
NATO member Turkey has condemned Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip, which came in retaliation for Palestinian militant group Hamas’ cross-border attack on October 7 last year. Turkey halted all trade with Israel and applied to join a genocide case against Israel at the World Court.
This is a developing story
Related: Mitsotakis, Erdogan Vow to Maintain Calm Climate in Relations