Agence France Presse
July 27 2005
Landmark flight travels from Azerbaijan to North Cyprus without
stopping in Turkey
BAKU: An Azerbaijani airliner headed to North Cyprus Wednesday on the
first direct commercial flight to the breakaway state in three
decades, the Baku-based privately owned carrier said. “A group of
businessmen will depart from Baku at 9 p.m. on a chartered flight,”
said Imair legal advisor Cavid Heydarli.
Airline officials have said they may begin regular flights between
Baku and north Nicosia’s Tymbou (Ercan in Turkish) airport as early
as September.
The break-away Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), proclaimed
in 1983, has been entirely dependent on Turkey for its air links to
the outside world.
All flights serving Ercan or North Cyprus’s second airport of
Lefkoniko (Gecitkale) near the eastern city of Famagusta have
previously made an obligatory stopover in Turkey, the only country to
recognize the TRNC.
The decision to launch direct flights between Baku and Northern Cyprus
was announced by Azeri President Ilham Aliyev on June 30 in talks with
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as part of a bid to set up
ties with North Cyprus.
In addition to direct flights, Azerbaijan, a key ally of Turkey, also
announced last month that it would start accepting Turkish Cypriot
passports, becoming only the second state after Turkey to do so.
In order to travel abroad, Turkish Cypriots need to acquire
internationally accepted passports – some get them from Turkey,
others from former colonial power Britain.
Other Turkish Cypriots have obtained passports from the
internationally recognized Cyprus government, derided as a Greek
Cypriot administration by both Ankara and the Turkish Cypriots.
Both Azerbaijani moves have been hailed by Turkish Cypriot leaders as
steps that will serve to break the international isolation of their
state, which depends heavily on Turkey for survival.
Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat and other TRNC politicians
will meet the Azeri delegation, who will also hold talks with Turkish
Cypriot businessmen before leaving the island on Sunday.
Baku’s decisions appear to have angered Greece, the Cyprus
government’s main foreign backer.
Following Imair’s announcement that it would open the air link
earlier this month, moves by a Greek telecommunications operator to
establish a partnership with an operator in Azerbaijan’s rival
Armenia have been viewed by the Azeri press as retaliation.
A story headlined: “Greece answers Azerbaijan for Northern Cyprus” by
the Trend news agency on July 22 detailed a partnership agreement
between Greece’s Intrakom and an Armenian provider that operates in
the contested Nagorno Karabakh enclave of Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a war for control over mainly
ethnic-Armenian Nagorno Karabakh in the early 1990s.
Armenian forces took control of the region but its status has yet to
be settled and it is still internationally recognized as part of
Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan views the activity of foreign entities in Karabakh as a
violation of its sovereignty over the territory, an argument that is
backed by authorities in Ankara.
Like North Cyprus, the unrecognized Nagorno Karabakh republic faces
international isolation and has few links to the outside world save
through Armenia.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded its
northern region in response to an Athens-backed military coup seeking
to unite the island with Greece. – AFP