Tsipras meets Erdogan during UN meeting sidelines

The meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, lasted about an hour ago, after the speech of Mr Erdogan at the General Assembly took more than expected. It is the first meeting of the two politicians since the release by Turkey of the two Greek soldiers.

On the Cyprus issue, Alexis Tsipras stressed Greece’s commitment to a just and viable solution on the basis of UN resolutions and its support for restarting bi-communal talks. He stressed that security consultations should be restarted on the basis of the Guterres framework as it was when the talks on Kran Montaña ended.
The prime minister also raised the issues of the re-opening of the Halki Theological School and the elections of the Greek minority in Constantinople. On his part, the Turkish president reiterated his standing on the issues of the Muslim minority in Thrace, while he also made reference to the 8 Turkish military officers who were granted political asylum.

Meanwhile, after the meeting with his Cypriot counterpart, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias said: “We had agreed during a joint trip we had in the Middle East to form a secretariat of tripartite formations, based in Cyprus of course, which will strengthen its geopolitical role … I am very happy that many forces, powerful nations in the world, are treating Cyprus not as a problem of the UN but mainly as a country with great geopolitical and geostrategic importance. And you know my dream is a free united Cyprus. “