Talks between Greece and Turkey over tensions in the eastern Mediterranean resumed on Monday in Istanbul after a hiatus of nearly five years.
Little progress was expected to be achieved in a dispute that has rumbled on for decades, but the two sides have agreed to meet again in Athens.
Turkey's presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said it was possible the issues could be resolved in the future and that there is a will to do so.
"Regional peace and stability is in everyone's interest," he said.
The talks on Monday morning lasted more than three hours, with Turkey’s deputy foreign minister Sedat Onal and Greek diplomat Pavlos Apostolidis leading the negotiations.
Greek government spokesman Christos Tarantilis said on Monday Greece was "attending the talks in good faith and expects Turkey to act similarly".
Athens only wanted to discuss the delimitation of maritime borders in the gas rich region and exclusive economic zones, but Ankara wanted to expand the exploratory talks to issues such as the demilitarisation of islands in the Aegean Sea and disagreements over air space.
"It's not right to choose one [subject] and say, 'we're holding exploratory talks on this'," Turkey’s foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said last week.
The two sides held 60 rounds of discussions between 2002 and 2016 before the talks broke down.
Tensions boiled over between the Nato neighbours, with their gunboats colliding last August, but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has recently offered a more conciliatory tone towards the European Union – which has backed Greece in the dispute.
Ankara angered Athens when it sent the Oruc Reiss research vessel – accompanied by a Turkish warship – to conduct exploratory activities off the coast of Greek Island of Kastellorizo, which is barely two kilometres from Turkey.
At the very least it is hoped the resumption of talks will calm hostilities. Germany has led European efforts to resolve the dispute and Nato set up a hotline to prevent military conflict.
Mr Cavusoglu was in Brussels for talks last week with senior EU officials. There was a “cordial, frank and thorough exchange of views” with the bloc’s top diplomat Josep Borrell, the EU said.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said “dialogue is essential, but we also expect credible gestures on the ground”.
