A meeting between Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Recep Tayyip Erdogan appears to be in the works on the sidelines of the NATO Summit taking place in Washington, despite initially not being on the agenda of the two leaders.
According to reports, the meeting will not be a full bilateral one with a complete agenda but will be brief, focusing mainly on reviewing recent developments in Greek-Turkish relations.
The likely day for the Greece-Turkey leaders’ meeting is Wednesday.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ schedule begins at 12:15 PM (local time) with an invitation from the think tank “Council on Foreign Relations” for a discussion with former U.S. Ambassador to Athens, Daniel Speckhard.
At 5:00 PM (local time), Mr. Mitsotakis will attend the anniversary event celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Alliance’s founding.
On Wednesday evening, Kyriakos Mitsotakis will be at the White House for a dinner hosted in honor of the leaders by U.S. President Joe Biden.
The NATO Summit agenda will include strengthening the Alliance’s defense capabilities, increasing contributions from European NATO member states and Canada for implementing the defense investment commitments, reaffirming support for Ukraine, and NATO’s cooperation with partners (the EU and Indo-Pacific 4 – Australia, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea).
Regarding defense capabilities and the commitment to defense spending of at least 2% of GDP, Greece is among the core allies exceeding this percentage. It is also noted that the Prime Minister, together with his Polish counterpart, has proposed a European air defense shield funded by European resources to complement NATO.
In Washington, the Prime Minister will also meet with members of Congress and will discuss tomorrow at the NATO Public Forum with former U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Nadia Schadlow.
After the conclusion of the NATO Summit, the Prime Minister will travel to New York, where on Friday he will meet with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The focus of the meeting will be Greece’s assumption of the non-permanent member seat of the UN Security Council (2025-26), as well as the Cyprus issue and the work of the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Cyprus, Maria Angela Holguin.
