'India, Pak haven't established peace': Turkey prez Erdogan raises Kashmir issue during UNGA address
India Today
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday raked up the Kashmir issue once again saying “India and Pakistan have not established peace between them yet.”
Addressing the world leaders at the high-level United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday raked up the Kashmir issue once again, saying “India and Pakistan have not established peace between them yet.”
"India and Pakistan, after having established their sovereignty and independence 75 years ago, still haven't established peace and solidarity between one another. This is much unfortunate. We hope and pray that a fair and permanent peace and prosperity will be established in Kashmir," Erdogan said.
Erdogan’s comment comes almost a week after he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in the Uzbek city of Samarkand on Friday. At the SCO summit, both leaders reviewed the full range of bilateral relations and discussed ways to deepen cooperation in diverse sectors.
This is not the first time Erdogan has talked about Kashmir. Earlier in 2020, in an address at Pakistan's Parliament, Erdogan had compared "the struggle of Kashmiri people with that of fight by Turkish people against foreign domination during the World War I".
Following this, India had criticised his comments and asked him not to interfere in India's internal affairs. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kaumar had said India rejects all references made by the Turkish President on Jammu and Kashmir, stating that the region is an integral and inalienable part of India.
"We call upon the Turkish leadership not to interfere in India's internal affairs and develop a proper understanding of the facts, including the grave threat posed by terrorism emanating from Pakistan to India and the region," Raveesh had said.
