Pakistan is showing “very close interest and concern” in the north, the north’s ‘parliament speaker’ Zorlu Tore said on Friday.

He was speaking regarding potential future recognition of the north and said, “we thank them very much. Our future is definitely bright.”

Pakistan, alongside Bangladesh, initially recognised the north when it declared independence in 1983, but both countries withdrew their recognition just three days after the declaration after the passage of the United Nations Security Council’s resolution 541.

Resolution 541 declared the north’s independence to be “legally invalid”, while also reaffirming resolution 367, passed in 1975, which called upon all UN member states to “respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and non-alignment of the Republic of Cyprus.”

Pakistan was one of the UN Security Council’s ten non-permanent members in 1983 and voted against resolution 541 but withdrew its recognition anyway after it passed. Jordan abstained from voting, while the other 13 members all voted in favour.

Tore on Friday also passed comment on the matter of Azerbaijan, which has in recent years been flirting with potentially recognising the north.

“Our president, prime minister and other delegations are going back and forth to Azerbaijan. There are meetings, visits. I hope and I think, that recognition will come to the agenda soon, maybe in 2025,” he said.

He added, “hopefully, this will happen in other Turkic republics as well. Azerbaijan is like a door opening to other Turkic republics in the Caucasus. Azerbaijan has already taken on the role of the standard bearer in this matter. More will follow.”