Turkey, Greece Resume Negotiations on Maritime Disputes after 5-Year Break

Diplomatic sources said on Monday that Turkey and Greece have resumed negotiations aimed at finding solutions to long-standing maritime disputes in the Aegean Sea.

Such a move comes after months of tension in the eastern Mediterranean Sea on rights of exploring oil and natural gas there.

The two neighbors, also members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), have made little progress during 60 rounds of negotiations between 2002 and 2016.

Plans to resume negotiations last year were stalled due to Turkey's sending of a drilling ship in a disputed area in the eastern Mediterranean, and due to disagreements over the issues that should be covered by the negotiations.

Ankara and Athens agreed this month to resume negotiations in Istanbul, in a test of Turkey's hopes for improving ties with the European Union.

The two sides expressed cautious optimism before the negotiations, although they continued to exchange sharp statements even in the days leading up to Monday's meeting in Istanbul.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said last week that Greece would participate in the negotiations with optimism, but "without naivety."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he hoped the resumption of negotiations would mark the beginning of a new era.

Despite an agreement to resume negotiations, Athens said last Saturday that it would only discuss the demarcation of borders in exclusive economic zones and the continental shelf in the eastern Mediterranean, not issues of "national sovereignty."

As for Ankara, it has said that it wants to include the negotiations on the topics covered in the previous rounds, including the disarmament of islands in the Aegean Sea and disputes over airspace.

It was not clear what topics were on the negotiating table on Monday.

These talks were launched after the meeting held by Erdogan with the Secretary-General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg.

Last September, Stoltenberg announced the launch of technical talks between Turkey and Greece to establish mechanisms to avoid skirmishes in the eastern Mediterranean.