Nothing new about Turkey raising Kashmir issue, says former high commissioner

Slamming Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for raking up Kashmir issue, G Parthasarathy, former High Commissioner to Pakistan on Wednesday, said India should comment on the Turkish occupation in Northern Cyprus in return. India has time and again opposed the Turkish occupation in Northern Cyprus, said Parthasarathy. Writes ETV Bharat senior correspondent Chandrakala Choudhury.

New Delhi:Slamming Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for raking up Kashmir issue, G Parthasarathy, former High Commissioner to Pakistan on Wednesday, said India should comment on the Turkish occupation in Northern Cyprus in return. India has time and again opposed the Turkish occupation in Northern Cyprus, said Parthasarathy. Erdogan made remarks on the Kashmir issue during his address at the high-level UN General Assembly session.

In his address to the UNGA general debate on Tuesday, Erdogan said: “We maintain our stance in favour of solving the ongoing problem in Kashmir for 74 years, through dialogue between the parties and within the framework of relevant United Nations resolutions.”

Recalling that Turkey, the close ally of Pakistan, had pulled up the Kashmir issue earlier, Parthasarathy said the Turks do it every year. There is nothing new about Turkey raking up the Kashmir issue in the global forum. Last year also, Erdogan in his pre-recorded video statement to the General Debate had referred to Jammu and Kashmir.

In response, India urged Turkey to learn to respect the sovereignty of other nations and termed it completely unacceptable. The Ministry of External Affairs had rejected the repeated attempts by Turkey to justify the cross-border terrorism practised so blatantly by Pakistan.

"India's internal security is the issue of the day and I am sure Prime Minister Narendra Modi will refer to it at the UNGA," he reiterated. The East Mediterranean island of Cyprus was split after a Turkish invasion in 1974, with Turkey occupying the northern part.

Turkey established the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in 1983, which marked the beginning of a long military standoff between the two sides. The TRNC is recognised by the international community.

Speaking to ETV Bharat, Professor Harsh V Pant, Director, Researcher at Observer Research Foundation (ORF) said, "Turkey raising the issue of Kashmir is not a very big surprise given the agenda of Turkish President Erdogan. It is imperative for him to raise these issues and he will continue to do so".

"Certainly, Turkey raising the issue of Kashmir doesn't really matter to India but now that we are looking at Taliban's rise in India's neighbourhood, there is a danger of hardline Islamist forces ganging up against India. Pakistan backing the Taliban and China backing the Taliban-Pakistan nexus is a much bigger issue for India than the Turkish President raising the issue of Kashmir in the United Nation", Pant added.

India has been consistently supporting the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity of the Republic of Cyprus. EAM Jaishankar held a bilateral meeting on Wednesday with this Cyprus counterpart Nikos Christodoulides in New York during which he emphasised the need to adhere to the relevant UN Security Council resolutions in respect to the Island nation.