Turkey's foreign minister said on Thursday that the European Union and Turkey were trying to create a "positive atmosphere" amid recent tensions with some members of the bloc.

"With some mutual steps taken recently, we are trying to create a more positive atmosphere," Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said addressing staff of the Turkish Accreditation Agency (TÜRKAK).

Recalling recent talks by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with European Council head Charles Michel, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and other foreign ministers, Çavuşoğlu said: "We are working on a road map for the future."

Erdoğan last week told Merkel in a videoconference call that Turkey wants to turn over a new leaf with the EU.

The EU leaders meeting in Brussels earlier this month decided to draw up a list of Turkish targets for sanctions over what they called Ankara's "unilateral actions and provocations" in the Eastern Mediterranean, an area believed to be rich in energy resources.

Relations between Turkey and EU member state Greece are at odds due to several issues.

Turkey, which has the longest continental coastline in the Eastern Mediterranean, has rejected maritime boundary claims of Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration and stressed that these excessive claims violate the sovereign rights of both Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots.

Ankara has sent several drillships in recent months to explore for energy resources in the Eastern Mediterranean, asserting its own rights in the region, as well as those of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

Turkish leaders have repeatedly stressed that Ankara is in favor of resolving all outstanding problems in the region through international law, good neighborly relations, dialogue and negotiation.