From May 28, 1918 to April 28, 1920, when the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed, Azerbaijan was an independent state. In 1922 the country entered in the Trans-Caucasus Federative Republic and on December 30, 1922 it became part of the USSR. Since 1936 it was a union republic. On February 6, 1991 the Supreme Council of the ASSR approved the new name – Azerbaijan Republic. On August 30, 1991 the Supreme Council adopted a Declaration of Independence, which entered into force on October 18 the same years. Since June 1992 Azerbaijan is a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, since 1994 it participates in the Partnership for Peace program, and since January 21, 2001 it is a full member of the Council of Europe.

The Republic of Bulgaria recognized the independence of Azerbaijan with a decision of the Council of Ministers of January 13, 1922. On June 5, 1992 in Oslo during the meeting of the NATO and the North Atlantic Cooperation Council countries, the ministers of foreign affairs of Bulgaria and Azerbaijan Stoyan Ganev and Tofik Gasimov signed a protocol on establishment of diplomatic relations. During the official visit to Bulgaria on June 28-29, 1995, Azerbaijan President Gaidar Aliyev and President Zhelyu Zhelev signed an agreement for friendly relations and cooperation.

On February 19, 1988 Bulgaria opened an embassy in Azerbaijan with charge d’affaires Yuksel Myumyun Ahmet, who presented his credentials to the Minister of Foreign Affairs V. Guiev on December 18, 1999. On November 18, 2004 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Azerbaijan Republic asked for an agreement to appoint Elman Zeinalov ambassador to the Republic of Bulgaria. On December 30, 2004 the Council of Ministers gave their assent for the appointment of the first Azerbaijani ambassador to our country. Ambassador Zeinalov arrived in Bulgaria on May 6, 2005 and presented his credentials to President Georgi Parvanov on June 16.

Bulgaria-Azerbaijan cooperation develops on the basis of the traditionally good relations and the absence of problems of political or other nature. The similar foreign political priorities, the political and economic stability of the two countries and the good prospects for development provide good preconditions for expanding bilateral relations, just as the mutual interest in using their central location – of Bulgaria as a link between Azerbaijan and Europe and of Azerbaijan as a country, situated on an important crossroads of East-West and North-South transport corridors. On June 23-28, 1995 in Sofia expert consultations took place in the final coordination of the inter-state agreement and the agreements in the field of law, transport and economy. On November 10, 1997 the two foreign ministries signed a Consultations Protocol.

On October 7-8, 2004 Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov was on a state visit to Azerbaijan, and on September 23-24, 2005 the President of the Azerbaijan Republic Ilham Aliyev paid an official visit to Bulgaria.

Meanwhile intensive contacts have been in place between the countries’ parliaments. On September 27-30, 2004, the chairman of the Milli Mejlis of Azerbaijan Murtuz Aleskerov made an official visit to Sofia.

A Group for Friendship with Azerbaijan was formed in the 40th National Assembly, chaired by Remzi Osman. In the Azerbaijani parliament after the elections of November 6, 2005, a Group for Friendship with the National Assembly was established, comprising 6 MPs and chaired by Ali Guseinov.

A parliamentary delegation, led by Ali Guseinov visited Bulgaria on May 15-19, 2006 and presented a written invitation to the National Assembly chairman Georgi Pirinski. The visit of Georgi Pirinski to the Republic of Azerbaijan took place in November 2006.

Contacts between branch ministers were made too
On December 15-17, 1994 Bulgarian Transport Minister visited Baku. During the official visit of Azerbaijan’s Defence Minister Safar Abiyev to Sofia on September 25-27, 2002, an agreement on cooperation between the two ministries was signed for 2004. Bulgarian Defence Minister Nikolay Svinarov arrived on an official visit to Baku on November 4-5, 2003, and the next year (on October 25-27, 2004) he received in Sofia the Azerbaijani Defence Minister Safar Abiyev. An Agreement for cooperation between the Defence ministries of the two countries was signed.

On September 19-22, 2004, within the efforts of Bulgaria’s OSCE chairmanship-in-office for regulation of the conflict in Nagorni Karabakh, Mr. Filip Dimitrov (prime minister of Bulgaria 1991-92) visited Azerbaijan as an official envoy of the organization’s chairman.

With the signing of the Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation of June 29, 1995 the foundation of the legal and contractual basis for expanding the relations in the field was laid. On June 29-30, 2000 in Sofia the first session of the Intergovernmental Bulgarian-Azerbaijani Commission on trade-economic and techno-scientific cooperation took place, and on October 6-7, 2004 its second session was held in Baku. On July 19, 2005 in Sofia was established and registered a non-profit organization named Bulgarian-Azerbaijani Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

There are a number of favourable prerequisites for the development of cooperation in foreign policy and in all other fields. On April 17-18, 2007 Azerbaijan’s Emergency Situations Minister Gen. Kamaladin Heydarov visited Sofia. During the visit, a Declaration of Intent was signed for cooperation between the Ministry of State Policy for Disasters and Accidents of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Since January 2007 Bulgaria is a full member of the European Union. On April 24, 1996 the Azerbaijan Republic, which maintains and develops good relations with other countries from the Middle East, signed a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with the European Union, in 2001 it joined the international struggle against terrorism and today sets its integration in the EU as a strategic goal.

Stoyan Raichevsky