Mitsotakis-Erdogan talks postponed abruptly

A long-anticipated gathering betwixt Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was abruptly postponed Tuesday pursuing a last-minute petition from the Turkish side, raising skepticism and interest successful Athens, where officials had invested sizeable effort successful organizing the bilateral engagement.

The Turkish delegation informed the Greek broadside conscionable 4 hours up of the scheduled gathering that Erdogan would beryllium attending a gathering of Arab and Muslim leaders hosted by US President Donald Trump. The Trump-led gathering was scheduled for 9.30 p.m. (Greek time), overlapping with the planned Greek-Turkish bilateral astatine 9 p.m., acceptable to take spot astatine the Turkish House successful New York.

The postponement came contempt important effort to put the gathering well successful advance, successful coordination with the leaders’ pre-established schedules for the UN General Assembly.

Initial signs of cancellation emerged Monday night, aft the clip of the Trump lawsuit became public. By midday Tuesday, diplomatic question indicated postponement was likely. Turkish advisor Akif Cagatay Kilic communicated the petition to Greek advisor Miltos Nikolaidis. Although not wholly unexpected, the hold was viewed with concern.

Greek absorption parties reacted swiftly. “The postponement of the gathering astatine Turkey’s petition sends the wrong signals during a captious geopolitical moment,” said PASOK overseas affairs spokesperson Dimitris Mantzos. SYRIZA’s Rena Dourou commented the determination suggested Greece’s “marginalization.”

Following the postponement, the two delegations remained successful adjacent interaction seeking a caller clip slot. As of Tuesday night, nary had been confirmed. Wednesday includes insignificant gaps successful some leaders’ schedules.

Mitsotakis is scheduled to speak astatine 3 p.m. (New York time) astatine a UN Security Council lawsuit connected artificial quality and planetary security, and aboriginal astatine 8.30 p.m. during the Templeton Prize ceremonial honoring Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

Erdogan has planned meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron, a speech astatine the UN Climate Summit, and a property briefing.

Athens continues to stress the value of maintaining unfastened Greek-Turkish connection channels, peculiarly astatine the highest diplomatic levels.