Accompanied by senior Cabinet Ministers and a 150-member business delegation, Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived on Sunday to hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This is Erdogan’s first foreign visit after winning a referendum on April 16 that further consolidated President’s executive powers in Turkey.
Bilateral issues, including India’s membership bid for Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and ways to strengthen cooperation in counter-terrorism and trade will be discussed during talks.
Issues relating to regional security, situation in the Middle East, particularly Syria, are also expected to figure during the talks between the two leaders. The two sides were also expected to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation in counter-terrorism. Erdogan will also address a business summit.
Turkey is perceived to be close to Pakistan on several issues. Ahead of his visit, India down played proximity between Turkey and Pakistan as well as Ankara’s statements on Jammu & Kashmir, saying the Government is aware that Turkey has a very close relationship with Pakistan and it is their bilateral matter. However, Indian officials said its bilateral relations with Turkey stand on its own and the co-operation between the two countries is unparallel.
“We have always emphasised that India-Turkey relations stand on their own footing and, we believe, the Turkish side reciprocates our sentiment,” Ruchi Ghanashyam, Secretary (West) in the External Affairs Ministry, said.
In an interview to an Indian TV channel, Erdogan supported a dialogue between India and Pakistan to resolve Kashmir issue and added that in order to solve the problem, both countries need to build bridges, strengthen dialogue between different stakeholders. He said that Kashmir question upsets both countries and “surmounting the Kashmiri challenge will contribute tremendously to the global peace”.
With Turkey being a member of the NSG, the issue of India’s membership bid for the elite group is likely to figure during the talks between the two leaders. “We remain engaged with Turkey,” she responded on queries related to India’s NSG bid and talks with Turkey. Turkey is not directly opposed to India’s NSG membership but has been maintaining that the powerful bloc should come out with a system to consider the entry of the countries which are not signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as also supporting Pakistan’s case, sources said.
After a failed coup in July last year to topple Erdogan, Turkey had blamed Fethullah Gulen Terrorist Organisation (FETO) for it and said the outfit has ‘infiltrated’ India.
Turkey had also asked India to take action against the organisation. Indian officials acknowledged that Turkey had raised the matter with the Government, which has noted their concern.
Calling the FETO a “secretive transnational criminal network” with presence around the world, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, during a visit here last year, had said, “Unfortunately, the FETO has also infiltrated India through associations and schools.”