ANKARA (Sputnik) — Yildirim was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Tugrul Tyurkesh, Finance Minister Naji Agba and Minister of Forestry and Water Veysel Eroglu. According to the Prime Minister's Office, Yildirim's next visit will be to Azerbaijan, where he will travel on Friday.
The choice of newly appointed Prime Ministers to pay the first visit following the appointment to Northern Cyprus and Azerbaijan became a tradition in Ankara in recent years. In September 2014, then-newly elected Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also paid his first official visit abroad to Northern Cyprus and Azerbaijan.
In 1974, Turkey invaded the island of Cyprus consequently proclaiming the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 1983. Turkish entity controls some 37 percent of the island territory. Currently, the United Nations is brokering peace talks for reunification of the two parts of Cyprus.
