Ahead of the resumption of the Turkish-Greek talks on the differences in the Aegean and Mediterranean navies next Monday after a five-year hiatus, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar called on the Greek side to avoid steps that may cause misunderstanding.

"We are waiting for our neighbor (Greece) to respect our rights in the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean, and to avoid steps that may cause misunderstanding," Akar said in a speech delivered on Saturday during the landing ceremony of the frigate "Istanbul" at sea.

"We hope to find a solution during our talks with Greece and discuss issues in the framework of rights, law and equity," he said.

He stressed that Turkey is a strong member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), calling on some of his country's allies to reconsider their recent decisions that are not consistent with the spirit of the alliance, he said.

The Turkish minister said that his country has sovereign rights in the "semi-closed" Aegean Sea, stressing that the territorial waters in it should not be expanded unilaterally, because that leads to restricting freedom of navigation and access to the seas open to both countries and other countries, according to his speech.

Last Wednesday, the Greek parliament approved a bill to expand the country's territorial waters from 6 miles to 12 miles in the Ionian Sea, one of the branches of the Mediterranean.

Greek agenda

For his part, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, in an interview, expressed his hope that Turkey would adopt a positive approach regarding the talks, which will start on Monday.

"The only thing that is certain is Athena's positive approach, and I hope the Turkish side will attend these talks in the same spirit," Dendias said.

The Greek minister indicated that the talks will be on one specific issue, which is the "redrawing of the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf in the Aegean Sea and the eastern Mediterranean based on international law."

He said that in the event that negotiations did not start after the preliminary talks in light of the two parties' inability to reach an agreement, they would have to agree in written text to refer the case to the International Court in The Hague.

Athens wants to solve the issue of redrawing the maritime areas in the Aegean Sea and the eastern Mediterranean, while Ankara says that all contentious issues must be dealt with, including the airspace and the status of some Greek islands in the Aegean Sea.

Turkey believes that it is not fair to limit its economic rights to a narrow space off its coast based on outdated agreements and on the pretext of the existence of Greek islands hundreds of meters from the Turkish mainland.

The two sides held 60 rounds of talks between 2002 and 2016, but this path was interrupted by increasing tensions over the natural gas wealth in the eastern Mediterranean.

The two parties agreed to hold the 61st round of talks next Monday, following an invitation by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to host the dialogue in Turkey.

Rafale fighter deal

Meanwhile, French Defense Minister Florence Parly will travel to Athens on Monday to sign a contract to sell 18 Rafale combat aircraft to Greece.

The Greek Defense Ministry said in a statement that Parley will meet her Greek counterpart Nikos Panayotopoulos and "after that, an agreement to purchase Rafale combat aircraft will be signed."

The contract, worth 2.5 billion euros, includes 12 used aircraft and 6 new aircraft with their weapons.

Negotiations on the contract were completed in a record time between the two governments, and the Greek parliament approved it in mid-January.

It is assumed that the delivery of the six new aircraft will start from 2022, but Athens, which wants to obtain without delay, aircraft that guarantee its air supremacy in the Aegean Sea, has also bought 12 used aircraft, and it is scheduled to start receiving them from the stock of the French Air Force next summer.