Pakistan-Turkey Strategic Talks

On 12^th February, Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accompanied by a high-level delegation, arrived in Islamabad, Pakistan for a two-day visit. The delegation was received by President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and other senior government officials of the Pakistan government. The visit was initiated upon the invitation of Sharif.

On 13^th February in the 7^th round of the Pakistan-Turkey High Level Strategic Cooperation Council in Islamabad, both nations vowed to bolster cooperation and support in the arenas of defence, mining, energy as well as other sectors. The meeting was co-chaired by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Post the closed-door talks, it was reported that both sides exchanged 24 signed documents, which included a joint declaration, a few agreements, and several memoranda of understanding (MoU).

Reiterating the resolve to strengthen their diplomatic relations both nations released their statements aftermath of the meeting.

“We have agreed to further strengthen our relations,” said Erdogan in a live broadcast while Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs too issued a statement saying that the talks would serve as “a roadmap for further deepening, diversifying, and institutionalizing the strategic partnership between Pakistan and Turkey."

Broad cooperation

By signing an MoU, Turkey’s Secretariat of Defense Industries and Pakistan’s Ministry of Defense Production and another MoU between Turkey’s state-owned Aerospace Industries and Pakistan’s Naval Research and Development Institute, both nations have concurred to cooperate in air force electronic warfare and to collaborate on defence production.

A new Joint Standing Committee on security, defence, and intelligence has been established between the two nations.

The cooperation between Turkey and Pakistan is evident through their joint production of four MILGEM corvette warships which are expected to be delivered to Pakistan, including the Turkish assistance in upgrading Pakistan’s fighter jet fleet, as well as the sharing and transfer of defence technologies amongst the two countries.

In the meeting last Thursday, Pakistan and Turkey also agreed to reinforce their existing trade agreement and promote their annual bilateral trade volume to $5 billion from roughly $1.5 billion. In 2023, a Preferential Trade Agreement was signed between Turkey and Pakistan. This agreement reduced Pakistani tariffs on 130 product categories, while Turkey cut down tariffs on 261 products lines.

Regardless of Pakistan’s efforts to pool in investments to special economic zones set up as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Turkish firms are expected to establish a special economic zone in Pakistan. In an effort to decrease reliability on importing foreign fuel, Pakistan intends to focus on green energy. As a result, Pakistan and Turkey have amended their existing agreement of cooperation in the field of hydrocarbons. MoU with Turkey on mining cooperation was signed as well, with Islamabad targeting foreign investments to engage in this sector.

It was reported that under the bilateral strategic cooperation council, six joint standing committees will include a broad range of sectors which include trade, investment, banking, finance, culture, tourism, energy, defense, agriculture, transportation, communication, IT, health, science and technology, and education.

Pakistan and Turkey have both pledged to cooperate against terrorism.

While Shehbaaz Sharif stressed on Taliban being a root cause of violence, Erdogan lashed out at Israel at the possibility of forcibly displacing Palestinians.

“Gaza belongs to our Gazan brothers and sisters and will remain so forever,” Erdogan said in a televised speech at a business forum in the capital, Islamabad. “The homeland for which the Palestinians have sacrificed tens of thousands of their children is not up for bargaining” he stated.

Both nations in their respective interests have maintained cordial symbiotic relation, jointly accessing and backing one another on issues of India’s Kashmir, the Azeri Cypriot matter and Palestine predicament to name a few.

As expected, it was apparent that in order to appease Pakistan, Erdogan spared no time in mentioning Kashmir.He stated “The Kashmir issue should be addressed according to the UN resolution through dialogue and keeping in mind the aspirations of the people of Kashmir”. He further added “Our state and our nation, as in the past, stands in solidarity with our Kashmiri brothers today”.

It would be imperative to note, while Erdogan firmly takes a stance on the Pakistan driven propaganda of ill treatment od Kashmiris in India, he seemed to have given a miss to the atrocities meted out by the Pakistani government in regard to the people of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh or the Pakistan-administered Kashmir: Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.

There have been reports of heavy crack downs, forced abductions of citizens, fabricated cases regarding blasphemy laws, violations of human rights and several other reports of extrajudicial killings of civilians by Pakistan forces.

These actions have been met with chants of “Chalo Dilli”, to protests to join India, numerous sit ins, shut downs and protest marches from the citizens. The arrest of the former PM Imran Khan and his political party workers has also caught the attention of Pakistan’s need to limit democracy. All these factors attribute to the failing image of Pakistan additionally to its already unstable economy and political environment. Yet, its agenda to rake issues in India’s territory supersedes its desire to help itself.

India has consistently stressed that the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh were, are, and “shall forever” remain an integral part of the country. However, it can be predicted that Pakistan and its allies may try to win perceptions of the international audiences by reiterating the fabricated Pakistan propaganda on Kashmir.

To add to the already driven propaganda, each year Pakistan celebrates its own version of Kashmir solidarity day or Black day.

Kashmir Solidarity Day is celebrated in Pakistan on February 5 by both Rawalpindi and Islamabad, to maintain its aspirations to assimilate Jammu and Kashmir in Pakistan under an Islamic Republic. This year, the conference titled “Kashmir Solidarity and Hamas Operation Al Aqsa Flood” was held to state that both Kashmir and Palestine were subjects for pan-Islamic jihad and to request the Ummah to unite against India and Israel.

According to various reports, the Indian intelligence reported more than100 foreign terrorists assembled on the launch pads in Jammu and Kashmir to wage jihad in India this summer.

It is evident that Pakistan intends to raise its stakes with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Army Chief Syed Asim Munir and terror leaders from Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiyeba, Hizbul Mujahideen and Kashmiri prop JKLF making a bee-line to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Additionally, the veil of not harbouring terrorists on its soil has been lifted as the Hamas and Palestinian leaders were seen sharing a platform with Pakistani Sunni jihadists on its so called “Kashmir Solidarity day”.

This indicates that Palestine political leaders have decided to aid with the so-called Kashmir cause as they try to build on India’s approach similar to that of Israel.

The Pakistani invite to Erdogan certainly comes across as a premeditated strategy to rebuild on the already well placed ties and possibly as an act of display to showcase the compliance Pakistan has received from Hamas, which Turkey has consistently warmed up to.