Mitsotakis to urge continued, law-based dialogue with Turkey at UN General Assembly

# Overview

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will use his United Nations General Assembly address to press for continued dialogue with Turkey that is strictly based on international law and the norms of good-neighbourly relations. His remarks are set against long-running disputes over maritime boundaries, the longstanding division of Cyprus, recent Turkish warnings around regional energy projects, and broader regional conflicts.

# Greece-Turkey relations

Mitsotakis is expected to name the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) as the institutional framework for resolving the dispute over continental shelves and exclusive economic zones between Greece and Turkey. He plans to stress that meaningful dialogue cannot coexist with unilateral actions that violate international law or with threats of war related to the exercise of legal rights.

This approach ties Greece's demand for negotiation to established legal rules rather than ad hoc arrangements. The message is both procedural—use UNCLOS—and conditional—talks must be free of unilateral moves or coercion.

# Cyprus: UN-led talks and the political backdrop

A substantial portion of Mitsotakis' speech will focus on Cyprus. He will mark the passage of 52 years since Turkey's 1974 invasion and the island's continued division, and he will publicly support UN-led efforts to restart substantive negotiations aimed at reunifying Cyprus.

By foregrounding the UN process, Athens signals it wants multilateral facilitation rather than bilateral bargaining with Ankara on the island's future.

# Diplomacy at UNGA: meetings and posture

As of the latest reports, no meeting has been scheduled between Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of UNGA, and no meeting is planned between the foreign ministers of Greece and Turkey. That scheduling gap underlines a cautious diplomatic posture: Greece advocates continued dialogue but is not currently engaging in high-level bilateral talks at the assembly.

# Regional conflicts, economy, and AI

Beyond Greece-Turkey and Cyprus issues, Mitsotakis will address regional conflicts affecting the eastern Mediterranean and broader neighbourhood tensions. He will also cover domestic economic matters.

On artificial intelligence, Mitsotakis is expected to argue that rapid AI development creates risks that voluntary self-regulation by companies cannot manage alone. He will call for stronger international regulation and cooperation, urging global rules rather than fragmented or purely private-sector governance.

# What to watch next

• Whether Ankara responds to the UNCLOS framing or rejects it as the sole framework for delimitation.
• Any follow-up scheduling of bilateral talks after the UNGA, especially if diplomatic backchannels reopen.
• Moves on Cyprus negotiations: whether the UN secures agreement to restart substantive talks.
• International reaction to Mitsotakis' call for AI regulation, including whether other countries endorse concrete steps.

# Bottom line

Mitsotakis' UNGA address will combine legal framing, diplomatic caution, and calls for multilateral solutions. He will push for dialogue with Turkey only within internationally recognized legal parameters, press for UN-facilitated Cyprus talks, and seek stronger international coordination on AI governance.