Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan raised the issue of Kashmir
during his address to world leaders at the high-level 78th session of the UN
General Assembly session.
“Another development that will pave the way for regional peace,
stability and prosperity in South Asia will be the establishment of a just and
lasting peace in Kashmir through dialogue and cooperation between India and
Pakistan,” said Erdogan in his address to the General Debate.
“As Turkiye, we will continue to support the steps to be taken in
this direction,” he said.
His comment comes weeks after he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi
on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in New Delhi during which both the leaders
discussed strengthening trade and infrastructure relations.
Erdogan said it was a matter of pride that Bharat was playing a
role at the United Nations Security Council.
The Turkish President said he favoured making five permanent and 15
“temporary” members as permanent members of the UN Security Council.
“Those 20 (5+15) should be permanent members of the UNSC in
rotation. But as you know, the world is bigger than five. When we say the world
is larger than five, what we mean is that it’s not only about US, UK, France,
China and Russia,” he said.
In recent years, the Turkish leader has referred to the issue of
Kashmir in his address to world leaders at the high-level UN General Assembly
session.
Last year, Erdogan raked up the issue of Kashmir during his address
to world leaders at the high-level UN General Assembly session here.
“India and Pakistan, after having established their sovereignty and
independence 75 years ago, they 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 had
said.
In 2020, Erdogan in his pre-recorded video statement to the General
Debate had made a reference to Jammu and Kashmir. India had at that time termed
it as “completely unacceptable”, saying Turkey should learn to respect the
sovereignty of other nations and reflect on its own policies more deeply.
PTI
