German Chancellor Angela Merkel, during a video call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, welcomed the recent positive developments in the eastern Mediterranean region.
Greece and Cyprus, members of the European Union, such as Germany, have objected to Turkish operations to explore for oil and gas in the eastern Mediterranean waters.
"The Chancellor welcomed the recent positive signs and developments in the Eastern Mediterranean. It stressed that it is important now to make progress in the dialogue," the German government said in its statement.
Erdogan expressed his desire to hold a summit in the first half of 2021 between Turkey and the European Union, which is expected for its part, "credible initiatives" to normalize relations, according to European officials.
The Turkish presidency said in a statement that President Erdogan renewed his desire to organize a Turkish-European summit before the Portuguese presidency ends, "at the end of next June.
Erdogan expressed to Merkel Ankara's "determination" to maintain "positivity" in its relations with the European Union.
Greece and Turkey resumed, at the end of last month, exploratory talks to resolve the dispute over natural gas in the Aegean Sea in the eastern Mediterranean, after a five-year hiatus due to the escalation of tension between the two parties.
The talks, which began in 2002, came after a long hiatus, as the last meetings between the two parties were held in Athens in 2016.
Greece, a member of the European Union, accuses Turkey of drilling for natural gas in marine areas that only Athens (from its point of view) may exploit, while Ankara says these areas belong to the Turkish continental shelf.