LAST UPDATE 19:30
The New York meeting of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which lasted 45 minutes, has finished.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Greek premier told Erdogan “I am glad to meet you in my new capacity,” during a handshake with the Turkish president.
Mitsotakis was accompanied by Foreign Affairs Minister Nikos Dendias, government spokesman Stelios Petsas, Deputy Foreign Minister Kostas Fragogiannis, diplomatic adviser Alexandra Papadopoulou and Dimitris Mitoupoulos, while President Erdogan was accompanied by Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Defense Minister Hulusi Akar.
Both leaders are in New York to attend the UN General Assembly meeting.
The meeting took place at a time when Turkey is behaving in an increasingly provocative manner in Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and when migrant flows in the Aegean have spiked. These are issues that have been raised at a European Union level – especially that of migration flows, where Turkey has been asked to uphold the EU-Turkey Statement. The Greek government is steadfastly in favour of dialogue but Mitsotakis has stated that if Turkey wants a new start in bilateral relations, it must demonstrate this actively.
Following the meeting with Erdogan, the prime minister will participate in Bloomberg’s Global Business Forum and have a meeting with the group’s CEO, Michael Bloomberg, on the sidelines of the forum. He is also expected to grant a live interview to Bloomberg TV.
The Bloomberg event will be followed by a dinner given by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, which is to be attended by a number of investors.
Source: ANA-MPA
