Erdogan plays Pak tune on ties with India

It is unusual for a visiting Head of State to espouse the cause of the host country’s enemy but Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has done precisely that on his India State visit. His urging for a multilateral dialogue to solve the Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan in comments made to an Indian TV channel, and his offer to be involved in finding a lasting solution to the question of Kashmir are odd considering that India has an unambiguous position on Kashmir being an integral part of India and against any third party intervention to solve the tangle. Though his visit was viewed as an indication of Turkey’s willingness to support India’s entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), his comments tied up New Delhi’s bid for NSG with that of Pakistan. He said: “Both India and Pakistan have the right to aspire to NSG membership. I think India should not assume such an attitude. If Turkey was fair enough to support Pakistan, it was fair enough to support India. We are very objective and positive to the NSG process.” The statement is particularly significant as it followed hours after India expressed strong support for sovereignty and territorial integrity of Cyprus which has decades-old territorial dispute with Turkey. While making unpalatable comments equating India with Pakistan in the TV interview, the Turkish president was more circumspect in bilateral parleys, concentrating essentially on economic ties. He said there was tremendous scope for Indo-Turkish joint ventures in third countries. Nuclear energy and renewable energy were possible fields of cooperation, he added. Signing an MoU for cultural exchanges, President Erdogan said more Indian tourists must visit Turkey. Turkish Airlines would like to increase destinations and flights to India, he added. While Prime Minister Modi said nations need to stand and act against states that finance cross border terror, the Turkish President skirted the issue.