NEW YORK – While a detente is holding, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is due to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, looking for answers to disputed issues between them.

They had earlier agreed on talks between them and high-ranking officials of both countries over sovereignty of the seas and Turkey’s demands for Greece to remove troops off Aegean islands – but not over Cyprus, which has been left off the table.

Greece’s state-run Athens-Macedonia News Agency AMNA, citing government sources not named, said the meeting will take place Sept. 24, as Erdogan is still seeking to get US-made F-35 fighter jets, in competition with Greece.

The discussion is expected to be broad, bringing in tensions in the Mideast over Israel’s ongoing invasion of the Gaza Strip in a hunt for Hamas terrorists who killed more than 1200 Israelis in October, 2023 raids.

The retaliation by Israel has been brutal, with airstrikes and attacks killing more than 40,000 Palestinians trapped in Gaza, with Greece – which supports Israel – nonetheless supporting a UN resolution demanding Israel withdraw.

Erdogan backs Hamas, describing the terrorists as freedom fighters, and the conflict is escalating with Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon firing rockets into Israel and Israel making strikes into Lebanon.

Mitsotakis is in a tight spot, trying to both back Israel and opposing the conflict that is bringing scores of thousands of Palestinian civilian deaths at the same time that Greece and Israel are making business deals, including an energy link.

He will also meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reaffirm the relations between the countries but also reportedly tell him that Greece’s upcoming role as a non-permanent Security Council member means opposing him too.