Mitsotakis meeting Turkish President Erdogan in New York on Wednesday

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is to have a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in New York on Wednesday, at 9:45 local time. The meeting has been described as exploratory as it is Mitsotakis' first with the Turkish president since he became prime minister.

It is happening at a time when Turkey is behaving in an increasingly provocative manner in Cyprus' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and when migrant flows in the Aegean have spiked. These are issues that have been raised at a European Union level - especially that of migration flows, where Turkey has been asked to uphold the EU-Turkey Statement. The Greek government is steadfastly in favour of dialogue but Mitsotakis has stated that if Turkey wants a new start in bilateral relations, it must demonstrate this actively.

Following the meeting with Erdogan, the prime minister will participate in Bloomberg's Global Business Forum and have a meeting with the group's CEO, Michael Bloomberg, on the sidelines of the forum. He is also expected to grant a live interview to Bloomberg TV.

The Bloomberg event will be followed by a dinner given by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, which is to be attended by a number of investors.

Mitsotakis' schedule has been left empty on Wednesday afternoon, since there is a possibility that a new meeting will be arranged with U.S. President Donald Trump, following the cancellation of a planned meeting on Tuesday due to impeachment proceedings initiated against Trump. The U.S. president cancelled all his meetings on Tuesday, including a meeting with the French president.

The prime minister's programme will resume normally on Wednesday evening, when he is scheduled to speak at an event in Astoria organised by the Greek-American community, where he will refer to the issue of giving Greeks abroad the option of voting from their place of residence.