Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who arrived in India on Sunday (April 30) for a two-day visit, called for a "multilateral dialogue" between India and Pakistan in order to resolve the Kashmir issue — a stand that goes against India's position that the matter should be resolved bilaterally. He added that he "had been discussing these issues at length" with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who Erdogan claimed, was willing to "settle this question once and for all."
"We should not allow more casualties to occur (in Kashmir). By having a multilateral dialogue, (in which) we can be involved, we can seek ways to settle the issue once and for all," Erdogan told WION news channel in an interview. He added that the issue must be resolved as soon as possible and not be left for the future generations. "All around the world, there is no better option than keeping the channel of dialogue open. If we contribute towards global peace, we can get a very positive result," Erdogan said.
He added: "Relations between India and Pakistan, if we dig closer, dig deeper, I can confidently say that the relations between the two nations are improving on a daily basis, which makes me very happy. But this Kashmir question, this question saddens us deeply. It upsets both the countries involved. And surmounting the Kashmiri challenge will contribute tremendously to global peace."
Erdogan also spoke about how Sharif was willing to resolve the matter. "My dear friend the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, is an individual with whom I have been discussing these issues at length, and I know he is a man of good intentions. I heard him personally speak of his will to settle this question once and for all. So if we keep the dialogue channels open, we can settle this question once and for all. And all around the world there is no better option than to keep the channels of dialogue open if we want to contribute to global peace."
Erdogan told the channel that the South Asia region needed "peace and stability" and not conflict. He said: "Extending conflicts, extending questions and carrying these questions to the future will be unfair to the future generations because they will have to pay the price. And right next to the prosperity of the Kashmiri people, we need security and stability in South Asia. We want this region to be peaceful... India is our friend in the region. Pakistan is our friend... In terms of faith, in India we have followers of the Muslim faith and in Pakistan there are Muslims, and this bring us even closer. We have to build bridges, strengthen dialogue between different stakeholders."
Erdogan supports India's NSG bid
The Turkish president also supported India's bid to enter the Nuclear Suppliers' Group as well its bid to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. "Both India and Pakistan have the right to aspire for NSG membership. If Turkey was fair enough to support Pakistan, it was fair enough to support India. We are very objective and positive to the NSG process," Erdogan told the channel.
Diplomatic sources told the Press Trust of India (PTI) that Turkey is not directly opposed to India's NSG membership but has always maintained that India should come up with a system that would consider the inclusion of those countries, which are not signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to the NSG.
Since Turkey is a member of the NSG, talks on the matter are likely to be a part of discussions between Erdogan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi when they meet on Monday, May 1. They are also expected to hold talks on key bilateral and regional matters, including ways to stengthen cooperation counter-terrorism and trade.
