The meeting between Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Tayyip Erdogan in New York has been confirmed for September 23. Specifically, according to government sources, the meeting will take place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, with the same sources indicating the most likely time as midday New York local time, which corresponds to evening in Greece. The meeting, which will be held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, will be attended by the foreign ministers and deputy foreign ministers of both countries. According to reports, the goal of the meeting is to lower tensions, following the strain caused by the neighboring country’s announcement of research by the oceanographic vessel Piri Reis in the southeastern Aegean and Athens’ response with a major military exercise from Evros to the southern Aegean, which sends a clear message to Ankara.
Mitsotakis’ message 24 hours before the upcoming meeting with Tayyip Erdogan
It is recalled that Kyriakos Mitsotakis in yesterday’s interview on ANT1’s main news bulletin mentioned that there is an intention for a meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdogan within the framework of the UN General Assembly in New York. “There is an intention from both sides to find time and I believe that since there is a willingness to find time, although we will overlap for a short while, I believe we will be able to find the time to hold the meeting…,” Mr. Mitsotakis said characteristically.
Moreover, he reiterated that Greece is not opposed to referring the issue of EEZ delimitation to the International Court of Justice, provided that Turkey recognizes that there is one and only one difference, and noted: “Greece will never discuss disarmament issues, nor obviously gray zone issues, nor sovereignty issues. The more these issues are put on the table, the more extremely difficult it becomes to resolve our major difference, which is the delimitation of maritime zones, namely EEZ and continental shelf. We can learn to live with our differences and if we cannot solve this issue, we will not be able to solve it. This does not mean, however, that the thermometer must permanently be in the red and that we must permanently be in an environment of constant tension.”
The previous Mitsotakis-Erdogan tête-à-tête
The previous “tête-à-tête” took place in June on the sidelines of the NATO Summit in The Hague. Kyriakos Mitsotakis had a brief conversation with Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the proceedings. Then, the two leaders put on the table the issues that were in the spotlight, such as developments in the Middle East. It should be noted that the prime minister has emphasized that “if the casus belli is not removed from the table, if Turkey does not stop promoting the unfounded theory of gray zones, it will not enter the European Union’s cheap loan program.”
