The meeting of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan began a short while ago on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meetings and is taking place at the UN premises in New York.
Participating in the meeting of the two leaders are the two countries’ foreign ministers, George Gerapetritis and Hakan Fidan, and the heads of their diplomatic offices, Anna Maria Boura and Akif Cagatay Kilic.
It is the sixth meeting of the two leaders in a year.
Gov’t sources
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 the soft diplomacy issues.
According to Greek government sources, there will be 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 will discuss the timeline for the political dialog, the positive agenda, and the Confidence Building Measures.
“The timeline of meetings does not depend on American elections,” a government source said. “We shall evaluate facts after the meeting and examine the issues in depth. During a very turbulent period and a Middle East that produces crises, 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.”
The Greek side will raise the Cyprus issue during the meeting, as always, the source added. 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.
