NEW YORK – Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met on the sidelines of the United Nations annual General Assembly and talked about placing maritime boundaries on the table – but not Cyprus.

Erdogan has pushed for Turkey’s right to expand its area of interest in the seas between the countries under the so-called Blue Homeland doctrine that’s been a source of tension, along with disputes over sovereignty of the seas.

“The two leaders tasked the foreign ministers to explore whether conditions are favorable to initiate discussions on the demarcation of the continental shelf and exclusive economic zone,” Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis said.

Foreign ministers from the two countries will start preparations for a high-level meeting to take place in Ankara in January, Mitsotakis’ office said, after resuming Confidence-Building Measures (CBMs) talks that had long failed.

Greece and Turkey, both NATO allies but historic foes, have been at odds for decades over a range of issues from airspace to maritime jurisdiction in the eastern Mediterranean and ethnically split Cyprus, noted The Jerusalem Post.

Greece sees a “window of opportunity” to demarcate the seas boundaries with Turkey, Mitsotakis told the world leaders, but was pessimistic about the reunification of Cyprus, which Erdogan refuses to discuss.

“Greece is willing to work towards resolving the only major outstanding issue we have with our neighbor: the delimitation of the continental shelf and the Exclusive Economic Zone in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean. We have not been able to effectively address this difference for more than 40 years, but this does not mean that it is destined to remain unresolved,” Mitsotakis also said.

“I strongly believe that we have today a window of opportunity and we should be bold enough and wise enough to seize this chance,” he said, adding he was glad that Erdogan wants to talk about delimitation of maritime zones.

Erdogan had earlier warned that it would be a cause for war if Greece doubled its maritime zones in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean to 12 miles but pulled back plans to again send an energy research vessel and warship near some Greek islands.

THE GREAT DIVIDE

The two leaders were said to have agreed that there’s been some progress although Greece has been building up its arsenal at the same time, and Turkey is still trying to get American-made F35s, with Greece set to acquire 20 of them.

As far as the maritime zones, Greek government sources not identified told Kathimerini that Gerapetritis and Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan “will assess when they will be able to open the discussion in the context of the ongoing political dialogue between Greece and Turkey.”

Greece and Turkey also reportedly agreed to strengthen their cooperation on migration to stop human smugglers sending refugees and migrants to Greece, especially islands near Turkey’s coast.

Mitsotakis also was said to have raised Cyprus with Erdogan, who had earlier said he would accept nothing less than United Nations acceptance of the Turkish- occupied northern third, rejecting any talk of reunification.

Erdogan reportedly ignored it and then had a meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres who was at the failed July 2017 talks in Switzerland.

“I reaffirm here today our commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Cyprus and to a solution, on the basis of a bizonal, bicommunal federation. With a single sovereignty, a single citizenship and a single international personality, in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions,” Mitsotakis said.

But Erdogan and Turkish-Cypriot hardline leader Ersin Tatar, who presides over the occupied northern third of Cyprus that was seized in unlawful 1974 Turkish invasions, want permanent partition and two separate states.

“A two-state solution cannot and will not be accepted; it is simply not a solution,” Mitsotakis said, with Erdogan and Tatar demanding the UN and world recognize the rogue occupied and isolated side of Cyprus that only Turkey accepts.

Mitsotakis said Greece supports resuming peace talks under the UN’s aegis. “We call upon Turkey and the Turkish-Cypriot community to come to the negotiating table, to at least establish mutual trust, and to engage in a frank and honest discussion in pursuit of a mutually acceptable, just and viable solution,” he said.

“Can you imagine how powerful a message for the world community it would send, to all those seeking peace in seemingly intractable conflicts around the world, if we can find a permanent, viable, and just solution to the Cyprus question?”