Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos will visit Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan this week, after having accompanied President Nikos Christotoulides on his three-day trip to Kazakhstan.

“The objective of my tour in central Asia is to strengthen bilateral relations and expand Cyprus’ cooperation with a region of growing geostrategic importance,” he said.

All four states, alongside Turkmenistan, signed a joint declaration alongside the European Union last year precluding any recognition of the north as an independent country, with that declaration coming at a time when the Turkish Cypriot side, led by Ersin Tatar, advocated for a two-state solution to the Cyprus problem.

The joint declaration stated that all five countries “reaffirmed our strong commitment” to United Nations security council resolutions 541 and 550.

Resolution 541 said the security council “deplores the declaration of the Turkish Cypriot authorities of the purported secession of part of the Republic of Cyprus” while calling on UN member states not to recognise the north.

Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos with Kazakh counterpart Yermek Kosherbayev

Resolution 550 said it “reiterates the call upon all states not to recognise the purported state of the ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’, set up by secessionist acts, and calls upon them not to facilitate or in any way assist the aforesaid secessionist entity”.

That joint declaration provoked anger among Turkey’s opposition, with Ozgur Ozel, the then leader of the CHP who was last month removed from that role by a court ruling, saying that the joint declaration’s signing was evidence of a “collapse” of the country’s foreign policy.

He also claimed that the status of Cyprus was a key part of a deal brokered by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and United States President Donald Trump to allow the arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu in March last year.

Meanwhile, Turkish Parliament speaker Numan Kurtulmus had said shortly after the signing of the joint declaration that the four Turkic states which signed the joint declaration – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan – were expected to “make up for it”.