‘Unplanned’ Modi Erdogan meeting

INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi met Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan in Uzbekistan last Friday (16), their first encounter in over two years.

In early 2020, India had summoned the Turkish ambassador to lodge a diplomatic protest after Erdogan, on a visit to Pakistan, said the situation in Kashmir was worsening. His comments came after Modi’s government in 2019 withdrew the region’s autonomy and brought it under federal rule.

The meeting was not included on Modi’s schedule for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit handed out by India’s foreign ministry.

It later said on Twitter the two leaders “appreciated recent gains in bilateral trade. Also exchanged views on regional & global developments”.