Pak-Turkey friendship: Joining hands to resolve ‘regional’ conflict

Both countries share similar issues like Kashmir and Cyprus: diplomat.


Peer Muhammad February 07, 2012

ISLAMABAD:


Turkey wants the regional countries to be more proactive towards resolving the Afghan problem, particularly Pakistan and Iran as both continue to suffer directly due to the instability in Afghanistan.


This was stated by the Turkey Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director General of South Asia Babur Girgin, who visited the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) on Monday.

He was accompanied by the Turkish Ambassador Babur Hizlan. A team of IPRI scholars led by Acting President Dr Maqsudul Hasan Nuri had a discussion with the visitors on the South Asia region, particularly Afghanistan, and the role of Turkey.

He spoke on the Istanbul Conference which Turkey facilitated in November last year, saying that Turkey was still not convinced as far as the utility of the Doha talks were concerned and it would be useless without taking all the stakeholders on board. He said that Turkey encourages involving Taliban in the political process and it would not support any government which comes on power by force.

Turkey and Pakistan cooperate with each other on a number of bilateral and multilateral cooperation mechanisms, he said. Both share, he added, a number of similarities such as issues like Kashmir and Cyprus; they both have border-recognition issues, Turkey faces one from Armenia; and they both have separatist problems.

To a question on recent legislation by French parliament on Armenian killings, Girgin stated that such issues are probed intentionally; nevertheless Turkey has taken certain measures in response to this legislation and if France carries this on, tensions will naturally be escalated between the two.

He stressed on developing closer ties, more people-to-people contacts and enhanced economic integration among the Muslim countries.

Nuri said that Pakistan wants a broad-based government in Afghanistan with representation of all the ethnic groups, which could provide a stable and sustainable set up. He further said that Pakistan should not object over the economic role of India in Afghanistan as it would ultimately be in favour of Pakistan. He, however, said that there should not be any military role of India in Afghanistan.

Another speaker, Air Commodore (retd) Khalid Iqbal said that Iran and Pakistan were ignored by the US in Afghanistan, while being the key stakeholders there. About the recent US talks with Taliban, he said that the US has engaged the middle-level Taliban and such initiative would not be durable and fruitful.

An IPRI official Munir Ahmed said the indicators showed that the US has changed its focus in Afghanistan as it wanted to withdraw its forces and focus on the political and economic engagements to evolve alternate means of solution toward the issue.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 7th, 2012.

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