Latest Mitsotakis-Erdogan Meeting; Talks Touch on Migration Issue, Cyprus

A roughly 30-minute meeting between Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan concluded just after noon (local time) in New York City on Tuesday, the sixth such contact between the two leaders over the past year, viewed as conveying both sides’ intent to demonstrate that bilateral ties are now normalized and cultivating cooperation wherever possible.

The Mitsotakis-Erdogan meeting came on the sidelines of a familiar venue for past Erdogan-Mitsotakis meetings, namely, the annual UN General Assembly, with the organization’s headquarters hosting the latest “photo-op”.

Also participating in the meeting were the two foreign ministers of either country, George Gerapetritis of Greece, and Turkey’s Hakan Fidan, as well as the heads of the two leaders’ diplomatic offices, Anna Maria Boura and Akif Cagatay Kilic, respectively.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan meet on the sidelines of the “Summit of the Future” at United Nations Headquarters , in New York, United States, September 24, 2024. Dimitris Papamitsos/Greek Prime Minister’s Office/Handout via REUTERS

According to reports after the meeting, both sides agreed to intensify cooperation on the migration front over the coming period, aiming to further eradicate migrant smuggling networks “that put lives at risk.” Within this context, the relevant Greek and Turkish ministers are expected to meet, a senior government source added.

Information emanating from the Greek side has the two countries’ foreign ministers preparing the groundwork of the next supreme council for Greece-Turkey cooperation, which will take place in Ankara next January – and based on the Declaration of Athens.

According to Greek sources, Mitsotakis and Erdogan confirmed a commitment to maintain a constructive climate, while acknowledging that CBMs have yielded results so far. Regional and global issues were also on the agenda, the same sources said.

Regarding the issue of an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and continental shelf, sources said the two countries’ foreign ministers would assess when discussions could commence as part of the ongoing political dialogue.

In terms of the thorny Cyprus issue, the Greek side reiterated Athens and Nicosia’s long-standing positions, emphasizing a need for a resumption of dialogue under the UN’s auspices, while expressing full support for the UN Secretary-General’s efforts to convene a trilateral meeting. “The Turkish positions are well-known. We remain optimistic,” the same source added.

Mitsotakis is expected to meet with Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides to brief him over his brief meeting with Erdogan.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan meets with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on the sidelines of the “Summit of the Future” at United Nations Headquarters, in New York, U.S., September 24, 2024. Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Turkish Presidential Press Office/Handout via REUTERS

Ahead of the Mitsotakis-Erdogan meeting, Greek government sources had said Athens aimed to again bring up the illegal migration problem in the Aegean, as smuggling gangs operating from western Turkey continue to ferry boatloads of migrants-cum asylum seekers towards Greek isles. The same sources referred to an effort to reconfirm volition for “calm waters” in the Aegean and east Mediterranean, continuing of a “political dialogue” and promotion of a so-called positive agenda, i.e. trade, transports, investments etc.

Previously frigid and often antagonistic relations between Athens and Ankara after 2019, as well as on the personal level between Mitsotakis and Erdogan, have now moved far beyond “thaw” and “restart” to high-profile discourses of bilateral cooperation unaffected by differences – which the Greek side nevertheless reminds are practically all related to demands and revisionist interpretations by Ankara.

Earlier repeat of intransigence vis-a-vis Cyprus issue

Earlier in the day, during his address at the podium of the UN General Assembly, Erdogan repeated a recently hardened position on the long-standing Cyprus problem, charging that the “federal model” for a solution has “completely lost its validity”.

The Turkish president again referred to “two separate states and two separate peoples on the island”, while adding that “the acquired rights of the Turkish Cypriots, namely, sovereign equality and their equal international status, must be re-committed, and their isolation must end.”

In echoing his statement last year at the same venue, he called on UN’s member-states to recognize the Turkish-occupied north of the island as an independent country.

“Today, I call on you, the international community, once again, to recognize the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and establish diplomatic, political, and social relations with it,” he said, referring to the pseudo-state unilaterally declared in 1983 in the areas occupied by Turkey and recognized only by the occupying power – Turkey.

To Vima reported on Tuesday cited Greek government as saying that “the Greek side will always put the Cyprus issue on the table”, with the Mitsotakis government having repeatedly expressed guarded optimism over a resumption in bicommunal Cyprus talks under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Erdogan is due to meet Guterres later on Tuesday evening, local time.

Cypriot President Christodoulides is set to address the UN general assembly on Wednesday.