NEW YORK – Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met on the sidelines of the United Nations annual General Assembly opening in New York, with reports Greece and Turkey will look at discussing setting maritime boundaries.

The Atlantic Council Presents Its Global Citizen Award to Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis

That’s what Erdogan wants as he 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.

https://www.jpost.com/international/article-821631

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 Greek islands.

The two leaders were said to have agreed that there’s been some progress although wary 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-Cypriot 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.