Turkey wishes to see Kashmir resolution through dialogue, says senior official
New Delhi: Turkey would like to see the resolution of political and security issues between India and Pakistan through dialogue, said Ibrahim Kalin, Senior Advisor to the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan here Friday.
Kalin also said that Turkey is looking at “ways and mechanisms” to continue its oil trade with Iran. Last Monday, the US announced it would end the sanctions relief next month for eight countries — including India and Turkey — which are importing Iranian crude oil,
“We are talking with Americans on this issue. We are also talking with the Europeans. We are on the same page with the Europeans. We are trying to find ways and mechanisms so that we can continue to trade with Iran,” he said.
In November last year, the US granted a six-month waiver to India, China, Greece, Italy, Taiwan, Japan, Turkey and South Korea to continue importing oil from Iran. The temporary waiver ends on May 2. India imports about 10 per cent of its total oil requirement from Iran.
About issues between India and Pakistan, Kalin said,”We would like to see a resolution of these political difficulties and pressing security issues through political dialogues. And the stability and safety of both India and Pakistan is extremely important for us as well and for peace and stability in the region. We will continue to work on this relationship.”
Kalin, who was speaking at a conference here at Observer Research Foundation (ORF), also condemned the terrorist attack in Jammu-and-Kashmir’s Pulwama district in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed on February 14 when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the bus carrying soldiers of the paramilitary force.
“The terrorist attack happened in Pulwama. We immediately condemned it. Our President (Erdogan) talked to both Prime Minister of Pakistan (Imran Khan) and your Prime Minister (Modi). We said we can not approve of this kind of act of terrorism,” he said.
He said in Turkey’s view there is no difference between the attack that happened in New Zealand and the attack in Sri Lanka.
Nine suicide bombers carried out a series of devastating blasts that tore through three churches and three luxury hotels on the Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka, killing total 253 people.
On March 15, a self-styled white supremacist killed 50 people and injured as many others in two Christchurch mosques, the deadliest mass shootings in modern New Zealand history.
Praising the multiculturalism of India, Kalin said, “it is important to remember that long before the ideas of multiculturalism, religious pluralism and diversity were even discussed in Europe, they were practised here in this part of the world”.
“Hindus and Muslims and Jains and Buddhists and Sunnis and Shias and all the other divisions – there were always some difficulties and I don’t want to idealise everything – but the fact is that that cultural experience of cultural co-existence…is practiced here”. (PTI)
Press Trust of India
