The New Anatolian, Turkey
July 25 2005

Athens Retaliates On Azeri Flights to TRNC
The New Anatolian / Athens

Athens decided on Thursday to open offices of a Greek
telecommunications company in both Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh in
retaliation for Azerbaijan’s recent decision to begin direct flights
to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

Athens announced that Intracom, one of the largest telecommunications
company operating in Greece, will open offices in Armenia (a state
with which Turkey has no official diplomatic relations) and in
Nagorno-Karabakh (an Azerbaijani region occupied by Armenia).

Intracom will establish a joint venture with the Armenian
telecommunications company Vivacell in an agreement expected to be
signed next Tuesday. Intracom will invest 22.8 million euros in
Vivacell. The Greek company is expected to open its office in Yerevan
before September and is expected to open the office in
Nagorno-Karabakh before October.

This is considered to be a retaliatory response to Azerbaijan’s
decision to begin direct flights to the TRNC at the end of this
month, in a first step towards ending the isolation of the TRNC.

Test flight set for next week

Azerbaijan announced last week that it will begin direct flights
between its capital Baku and Lefkosa in the TRNC on July 31, and a
test flight is set for next Wednesday, July 27.

Added to the start of direct flights between Baku and Lefkosa, as
part of Azerbaijan’s efforts to help to end the TRNC’s isolation, an
eight-member Azerbaijani parliamentary delegation arrived in the TRNC
to participate in the Peace and Independence Day celebrations on
Wednesday. An Azerbaijani business delegation was scheduled to arrive
in the TRNC on Friday to explore avenues of cooperation, especially
in the trade, tourism and industry sectors.

Greek Cypriots protest direct flights

The Greek Cypriots expressed their concerns about the start of direct
flights to the TRNC during a European Union Permanent Representatives
Committee (COREPER) meeting last week, claiming that such flights are
a violation of the sovereignty of an EU member state.