Bar not high in Mitsotakis, Erdogan talks
Greek and Turkish leaders to meet again on Tuesday on sidelines of UN General Assembly
Expectations are low ahead of Tuesday’s meeting between Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Indicative of the difficulties is a reminder by Turkey’s energy minister, Alparslan Bayraktar, of Ankara’s firm positions on Eastern Mediterranean issues.
In a television interview, Bayraktar described the Eastern Mediterranean as “the most important part of the ‘Blue Homeland,’” and referred to Turkey’s exploration in the region by presenting a map that includes all the areas included in the Turkey-Libyan maritime memorandum, namely areas six nautical miles from Rhodes, Karpathos, Kasos and Eastern Crete.
The two men will examine the small but real possibility of overcoming certain obstacles in Greek-Turkish relations, but also the possibilities of cooperation on broader issues, such as migration.
The meeting is scheduled to take place on neutral ground (in a UN booth) and to last 20 minutes – the total time will probably be much longer if the necessary translation is included.
Government sources said on Monday that the one-on-one will have the familiar format of the previous five Mitsotakis-Erdogan meetings, with the participation of foreign ministers George Gerapetritis and Hakan Fidan and diplomatic advisers Anna Maria Boura and Akif Cagatay Kilic.
Essentially, though, the question is whether the talks can result in the resumption of the political dialogue and the exploratory contacts conducted under it, beyond the Gerapetritis-Fidan channel.
Mitsotakis will also raise the issue of restarting the UN process on the Cyprus issue, on which Turkey has taken a tough stance, but is under pressure to give talks one last chance and to back down from its current two-state position. In this regard, the meeting between UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Mitsotakis is noteworthy.
For Greece, cooperation with Turkey on migration is obviously of high importance, as almost all refugee and migrant arrivals pass through Greece. Coordination with Turkey in this area is a necessity which is not, of course, linked to the wider Greek-Turkish problems.
Ahead of the meeting with Erdogan, Mitsotakis held bilateral meetings with the crown prince of Kuwait and with representatives of American-Jewish organizations.
