After Erdogan’s Kashmir comments

It is becoming abundantly clear that Turkey’s support for Pakistan’s position on Kashmir has irked Indian PM Modi

It is becoming abundantly clear that Turkey’s support for Pakistan’s position on Kashmir has irked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The most recent cooling of ties started when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticised India’s actions in the disputed state during his United Nations General Assembly address last month. In his address, Erdogan had said the stability and prosperity of South Asia could not be separated from the Kashmir issue.

Modi will not go ahead with a planned visit to Ankara this year to show displeasure over the Turkish president’s comments, according to Indian media reports. This may also lead to cancellation of a $2.3 billion tender granted to Turkey’s Anadolu Shipyard earlier this year to help build five 45,000-tonne fleet support ships for Hindustan Shipyard, according to The Hindu. However, Indian media has reported that this issue may be more attributable to the fact that Anadolu would have access to the plans for the ships and could, theoretically, share them with Pakistan. Just last month, Anadolu launched the first of four anti-submarine corvettes for the Pakistan Navy.

There was also the issue of Turkey backing Pakistan at the FATF meeting in Paris. Incidentally, there has also been pushback against Malaysia, which also supported Pakistan at the FATF. Reports have quoted industry representatives as saying that Indian importers and refiners are moving palm oil purchases from Malaysia to Indonesia. Oddly, India has not taken any such action against China — its largest trading partner — despite decades of close China-Pakistan ties. What if Muslim OPEC member states stepped up to criticise India — would it stop buying crude? Could it be that Modi is a just a schoolyard bully incapable of picking on someone his own size?

India has also been unusually critical of Turkish actions against the Kurds in Syria, citing Turkey for causing “humanitarian and civilian distress”. Yet by acting offended when Erdogan speaks of humanitarian and civilian distress being caused by Indian actions in Kashmir, India is really just trying to claim the high ground while sitting at the bottom of a canyon.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 23^rd, 2019.

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