The deputy foreign ministers of Türkiye and Greece came together in Athens as part of the Positive Agenda dialogue between their countries, Greek state media said Monday.

The meeting between Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Konstantinos Fragogiannis and Deputy Foreign Minister Burak Akçapar took place in a cordial atmosphere and was constructive, according to state news agency AMNA.

Akçapar will also meet another Greek deputy foreign minister, Alexandra Papadopoulou, within the framework of regular political consultations on Tuesday.

The sides are reviewing their progress since the last meeting of their delegations in Ankara in March, covering all aspects of bilateral ties, from trade, economy and energy, to transport, education, health and environment, as well as societal relations and new areas of cooperation.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis affirmed the "positive climate" in relations during a meeting in New York in September.

The leaders confirmed the roadmap and timeline of bilateral contacts as agreed in an earlier meeting of foreign ministers in Ankara.

Meetings are scheduled for confidence-building measures in November and the Türkiye-Greece High-Level Cooperation Council on Dec. 7 in Thessaloniki.

Türkiye and Greece have often locked horns over several issues, including competing claims to jurisdiction in the Eastern Mediterranean, overlapping claims over their continental shelves, maritime boundaries, airspace, energy, the ethnically split island of Cyprus, the status of the islands in the Aegean Sea and migrants.

Tensions flared in 2020 over exploratory drilling rights in areas of the Mediterranean Sea – where Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration claim exclusive economic zones – leading to a naval standoff.

Despite saying that it has no intention of entering an arms race with Ankara, Athens has also been carrying out an ambitious rearmament program, building a military presence on the disputed Aegean islands since the 1960s in violation of postwar treaties and tightening its defense cooperation with the United States.

The purchase of fighter jets from the U.S. and the upping of defense budgets are meant to counter the protection of Turkish interests in the Eastern Mediterranean. Greece says it needs to defend the islands against a potential attack from Türkiye, but Turkish officials said continued militarization of the islands could lead to Ankara questioning their ownership.

Türkiye has often warned against such moves and called instead for dialogue to resolve their disputes.

As part of Türkiye’s peace diplomacy based on normalizing ties with countries it had strained relations, as well as the friendlier climate triggered by Greece sending assistance to Türkiye following two devastating earthquakes and Türkiye offering condolences after a deadly train crash in Greece earlier this year, the two countries decided to improve their ties.