The scheduled meeting between Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in New York is postponed.

According to government sources, the meeting of the two leaders will not take place today at the request of the Turkish side, due to the participation of the Turkish President in a meeting of Arab and Muslim leaders organized on Tuesday in New York by U.S. President Donald Trump. The Turkish side argued that President Erdogan would be delayed for his appointment with the Prime Minister and therefore requested a postponement for the coming days (more likely tomorrow, less likely the day after, given the upcoming Trump–Erdogan meeting). It remains to be seen whether the justification put forward by the Turkish side is genuine—if a new meeting is immediately set—or merely a pretext if no such meeting takes place.

It should be noted that Donald Trump announced the conference of Arab countries, to which Turkey was also invited, and which will be taking place at the same time as the scheduled meeting between Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Thus, the Turkish side notified [Athens], and a new time is now being sought in the coming days in New York, based on both leaders’ schedules.

It is reminded that the meeting had been scheduled for today at 21:00 at the so-called ‘Turkish House’ in New York, as the first Greek-Turkish summit-level contact since last September.

Alongside the two leaders would have been the foreign ministers, Giorgos Gerapetritis and Hakan Fidan—who, however, meet more frequently—as well as the two diplomatic advisers, Milton Nikolaidis and Akif Cagatay Kılıc.