President Erdogan’s controversial decisions have compromised Turkey’s relations with its allies. While Ankara struggles in balancing its tensions in the Mediterranean and with Russia, it might have just created a new enemy – India.
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Taking sides with Pakistan and commenting on the Kashmir issue, the Turkish government was recently seen propagating the same message as the Pakistani government, an effort to incite feelings of communal divisions within India.
“President Erdogan has played a vital role in exposing Hindutva designs against the people of Kashmir and Indian minorities as the goons of proscribed Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) were lynching Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and Dalit Hindus with impunity and the Indian authorities were providing assistance in actions against the Indian minorities and Kashmiris,” said the chairman of Pakistan’s Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir, Shehryar Afridi, after a meeting with the Turkish ambassador Mustafa Yurdakul.
The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has taken a series of decisions trying to throne himself as the supreme head of the Muslims worldwide, an effort to take advantage of the country’s Ottoman past.
“Turkey is playing a leading role for the entire Ummah (Muslims around the world) so that they remain united against their common enemy,” Afridi said, emphasizing the urgent need to draw international media attention to Kashmir – going in-line with Pakistan’s policy of taking the Kashmir matter on the international stage.
The lashes can also be seen as a part of bigger political alliances emerging in the new world order. Turkey, a part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), has been lately hobnobbing with Russia for its defense equipment and has seen threats of economic sanctions by the United States – which has already kicked Ankara out of its F-35 program.
Having renewed tensions with its historic rival Greece, Turkey now wishes to assert its stand at the global level – that it is not going to back down.
While Turkey has been increasingly getting closer to Pakistan and repeatedly making comments about India’s moves in Kashmir, New Delhi has warned Ankara not to get involved in India’s internal matters, especially after gaining international support on Kashmir’s integration.
India has also been overtly taking its stand against Turkish actions in Syria, stating that “Turkey’s actions can undermine stability in the region and the fight against terrorism.”
According to reports, Turkey is involved in the region taking Pakistan’s side for economic reasons, as it wants to promote Turkish-made weapons, while its neo-Ottoman plans include expanding into the region as part of a pan-Islamic plan to unite all Muslims. In the end, the Turkish president is only constantly increasing and multiplying his enemies.
