Provocative attitude taken by the Azerbaijani government towards the Republic of Cyprus

18.1.2018

Question for written answer E-000259-18
to the Commission
Rule 130
Neoklis Sylikiotis (GUE/NGL) , Takis Hadjigeorgiou (GUE/NGL) , Demetris Papadakis (S&D) , Eleni Theocharous (ECR) , Costas Mavrides (S&D) , Lefteris Christoforou (PPE)

The Cypriot company of G. Kouzalis applied on 16 October 2017 to take part in the RECEXPO Real Estate Fair, to be held in Azerbaijan by ELAN EXPO, a Turkish-Iraqi company.

The application was initially accepted and G. Kouzalis paid all the costs of its participation. However, on 25 November 2017 the fair’s organisers sent an email to G. Kouzalis stating that advertising for and promoting ‘Southern Cyprus’ had been banned by the Azerbaijani authorities and that, as the Azerbaijani government did not recognise ‘Southern Cyprus’, no product or service relating to ‘Southern Cyprus’ could be accepted at the fair.

Given the relationship the EU has with Azerbaijan under the partnership and cooperation agreement, will the Commission say:

Does it intend publicly to denounce the unacceptable attitude of the Azerbaijani government, which brazenly states that it refuses to recognise the Republic of Cyprus, an EU Member State, and even goes so far as to describe it dismissively as ‘Southern Cyprus’?

What steps will the EU take to put pressure on the Azerbaijani government to ensure that such an incident does not recur in future?