The delegation of Azerbaijani businessmen to Cyprus also includes several prominent Azerbaijani singers, as well as works of Azerbaijani artists and sculptors. This is done with the aim of further strengthening the relations between the two countries in the field of arts and culture. Last month, the delegation of the Azerbaijani state committee on the affairs of Azerbaijanis living abroad also visited the republic and opened the Azerbaijan House there, with the aim of developing Diaspora relations.

The intensification of the bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Northern Cyprus is more and more evident. Local analysts link this to the recent visit of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Baku and his steady persuasion of the Azerbaijani leadership to start these measures. Until recently, official Baku, although supportive of its “ethnic brothers” in Cyprus, have been reluctant to make any moves towards building state relations with the Northern Cyprus because of the fear that Greece or Southern Cyprus might retaliate with similar actions towards Nagorno-Karabakh. Earlier this year, Azerbaijani delegates at the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe decided not to attend the session of the assembly in which the agenda included the allocation of a non-voting member status to the delegates from Northern Cyprus. Many in Turkey and Azerbaijan called this act as “backstabbing”, but the Azerbaijani delegates explained it with the complex situation around Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Indeed, local opposition newspapers have been bashing at the Aliyev administration for such moves, claiming that it would hurt the foreign policy of Azerbaijan and the overall peace process on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. President Aliyev himself, while on a visit to Ankara last year, promised to strengthen relations between Azerbaijan and Northern Cyprus. Some local analysts even questioned whether this meant the official recognition of the Northern Cyprus Republic. And while the Azerbaijani government has abstained from that move, several above mentioned actions indicate the willingness of the Azerbaijani government to break the isolation of Northern Cyprus.

At the same time, the development of the bilateral relations can bring many benefits to the Azerbaijani economy as well, since the Republic of Northern Cyprus has significant potential in the fields of tourism, agriculture and food industry. These are areas in Azerbaijan that urgently need foreign expertise.

There are some analysts in the country who also believe that President Aliyev is making these steps towards the Northern Republic of Cyprus to please the Turkish political leadership prior the sensitive parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan. The Turkish prime minister, while in Baku, once again stressed the importance of free and fair elections. Worried about the velvet revolutions in the post-Soviet space, the Azerbaijani leadership is eager to gain allies in the face of regional powers.

Yet, it must be also noted that the actions of the official Baku have become bolder after the referendum in Cyprus on April 24, 2004. 65% of the Turkish Cypriots voted for the unification of the island, while 76% of the Greek Cypriots have rejected the UN proposal for unification. Azerbaijan’s leadership seems to believe that this choice makes the Cyprus conflict different from the one in Nagorno-Karabakh, because in the latter the two communities of the conflict have not formally decided upon the future of the area. It remains to be seen how Greece and Cyprus will react to these recent policies of Baku.