Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has held talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Istanbul, weeks after a military conflict between Islamabad and New Delhi.
The two countries would strive to boost cooperation, particularly in defence, energy and transportation, Erdogan’s office said on Sunday.
Erdogan told Sharif it was in the interest of Turkey and Pakistan to increase solidarity in education, intelligence sharing and technological support in the fight against “terrorism”, Turkiye president’s office said.
The meeting in the Turkish commercial capital comes as Ankara faces a backlash from India over its alleged supply of weapons to Islamabad during the recent conflict between the two South Asian neighbours. Ankara has denied sending weapons to Pakistan.
In recent weeks, Erdogan had expressed solidarity with Pakistan after India conducted military attacks across nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. New Delhi said the attacks were in response to an April 22 attack on tourists by armed fighters in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, which left 25 Indians and one Nepalese national dead. India has accused Pakistan of indirectly supporting the attack – which Pakistan denies.
Turkiye had warned of a risk of an “all-out war” between the nuclear-armed neighbours and called on both sides to “show good sense” to reduce the tensions, while expressing support for Islamabad’s request for an international inquiry into the Pahalgam attack.
The two countries announced a ceasefire on May 10.
Turkiye faces backlash in India
Turkiye and Pakistan have long had close economic and military links.
In February, Erdogan visited Islamabad, during which the two countries signed 24 cooperation agreements to bolster bilateral ties.
In a sign of India’s displeasure with Ankara, India’s External Affairs Ministry spokesperson last week said that “relations are built on the basis of sensitivities to each other’s concerns”.
“We expect Turkey to strongly urge Pakistan to end its support to cross-border terrorism and take credible and verifiable actions against the terror ecosystem it has harbored for decades,” Randhir Jaiswal said during a press briefing on Thursday.
Meanwhile, grocery shops and leading online fashion retailers in India declared a boycott of Turkish products ranging from chocolates, coffee, jams, and cosmetics, as well as clothing.
Indian fashion websites owned by Flipkart retail and billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance removed numerous Turkish apparel brands from their sites.
India’s annual $2.7bn in goods imports from Turkiye, however, are dominated by mineral fuels and precious metals. We still do not know how the bilateral trade will be impacted amid the strained ties.
Indian travel companies also suspended bookings of flights, hotels and holiday packages to Turkiye “in solidarity with India’s national interest and sovereignty”.
India has not officially ordered companies to boycott Turkish products. But the country’s civil aviation ministry on May 15 revoked the security clearance of the Turkish-based aviation ground handling firm Celebi.
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