Turkey-Pakistan Relations: A Transformational View (Part-2)

 -DR. ABDUL RUFF

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It is always better to call a spade a spade when one must.  And it better be late in doing so than never!

America exploits the histoirc rivalry and mutual hatred between India and Pakistan and also  it enjoys the way India tries to  snub Pakistan where it is possible. India is eager to escape punishment for its illegal occupation of Jammu Kashmir and endless massacres of Muslims there and USA is using that Indian immoral ambition only to punish Pakistan and gain cash from Indian corporate regime. .  

Upon destabilizing Pakistan by fake coercive diplomacy, Americans now call Pakistanis beggars, accusing them of refusing to  "do more" for US colonialist bosses on "useful" service charges, including terror goods. For the CIA, "do more" means killing Muslims on payment basis. Obviosuly, prolfusvely drning Islmaic blood and  consuming Muslim corpses for years,  the USA-NATO rogues expect a certain target of  Muslim corpses in a week and the CIA is annoyed that of late  the number of Muslim corpses is dwindling. That is Pakistani military is not killing Muslims as expected by Washngton.

Many Muslim and other nations are now weakened and destabilized by NATO. Maybe Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Libya are among the worst hit. But only Pakistanis called a beggar state.  That is the US arrogance.

It is in this context that emerging Turkey-Pakistan relations  become important.

Turkey and Pakistan, threatened by Soviet communism and global anti-Islamism trends from both West and East,  maintain extensive cultural, commercial, strategic and military cooperation and have a deep bond of brotherhood for decades now.

Turkey is fast growing economy with sound security system. Pakistan is the second largest Muslim country in terms of percentage of population after Indonesia, and its status as a declared nuclear power, being the only Muslim nation to have that status. Pakistan, unfortunately, has been plagued by poor governance, ethnic and sectarian strife, and these have been compounded by economic crises.

The growing nature of ties could be gauged by friendly missions established by them in each other's nation. Turkey has an embassy in Islamabad, a Consulate-General in Karachi and honorary consulates in Lahore, Peshawar, Sialkot and Faisalabad whereas Pakistan has an embassy in Ankara, a Consulate-General in Istanbul and an honorary consulate in Izmir.

Pakistani exports include rice, sesame seeds, leather, textiles, fabrics, sports goods, and medical equipment. Turkey's exports to Pakistan include wheat, chickpeas, lentils, diesel, chemicals, transport vehicles, machinery and energy products. Turkish private corporations have also invested significantly in industrial and construction projects developing highways, pipelines and canals.

Turkey and Pakistan are Muslim-majority states and share extensive cultural and geopolitical links. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called Pakistan his second home.  The former President of Pakistan P. Musharraf, who spent part of his childhood in Turkey, expressed a desire to develop Pakistan on the Turkish model of modernism and secularism. In spite of the geographical distance and the clear economic and social differences between two countries, Turks and Pakistanis have had a cordial relation, on a state to state level. Pakistanis have always been called ‘brothers’ in Turkey. PakTurk International Schools and Colleges is a chain of Turkish schools and institutes found in numerous cities of Pakistan.

 It is not surprising that during her visit to Turkey in August 2011, Hina Rabbani Khar, the foreign minister of Pakistan, called Turkey an "inspiring example" for the world, when commenting on its economic progress and democracy.

Pakistan and Turkey agreed to undertake a US $ 20 billion project to upgrade a railway link from Islamabad to Istanbul, basically to speedily transport cargo from Pakistan to Turkey and ultimately to Europe. This was decided in a meeting between President Asif Ali Zardari and his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul. The meeting continued for one hour as President Abdullah Gul said that three companies of his country were interested in constructing Bhasha-Diamer Dam in Pakistan. President Zardari is only a four-day visit of Turkey to attend Trilateral Summit as well as Istanbul Summit on Afghan issue besides discussing bilateral matters with Turkish leaders. A container train service was launched by the Prime Minister of Pakistan Yousuf Raza Gilani between Islamabad and Istanbul on 14 August 2009. The first train carried 20containers with a capacity of around 750 t (738 long tons; 827 short tons) and will travel 6,500 km (4,000 mi) from Islamabad, through Balochistan and Tehran, Iran and on to Istanbul in two weeks' time. According to the Minister for Railways Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, after the trial of the container train service, a passenger train will be launched. There are also hopes the route will eventually provide a link to Europe and Central Asia, and carry passengers.

Turkey also launched a trilateral summit process between the two states and Afghanistan in February 2007, following a visit by then Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül to Islamabad, as the backbone of its diversified foreign policy in Southeast Asia and Pakistani deputy Humair Hayat Khan Rokhri confirmed that according to Gül “we are all brothers who need to support each other,” in order to, “bring security and stability to the region.” On 1 April 2009 meeting between Pakistani and Afghan leaders, conducted as part of the trilateral Ankara cooperation process, saw the three countries pledged to increase coordination between their political, military and intelligence tiers in the fight against militancy and terrorism. On 26 October 2009, Recep Tayyip Erdoðan was awarded the Nishan-e-Pakistan and was the fourth world leader who spoke to the Pakistani parliament. Erdoðan said that Pakistan had always occupied a special place in the hearts and minds of the Turkish government and people. Turkey established diplomatic relations soon after the independence of Pakistan in 1947 and bilateral relations became increasingly close owing to cultural, religious and geopolitical links between the two countries. Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah expressed admiration for Turkey's founding leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and also a desire to develop Pakistan on the Turkish model of modernism and secularism.

 In August 2009 following his meeting with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoðlu said both decided to establish a strategic cooperation and coordination structure between the two foreign ministries and that the a joint economic forum would convene as soon as possible. Davutoðlu said the trilateral meetings between Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan would be gaining momentum, adding that they would collaborate on a regional meeting. “There is a strong political will between the two countries and this will knows no bounds to take relations to the utmost level,” he said.

In recent years, Turkey and Pakistan have steadily been enhancing the trade ties. Recently, the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and Istanbul Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) have decided to establish a mechanism for exchange of trade related information that is the biggest hurdle to enhanced bilateral trade. The decision was made at meeting of 37-member LCCI delegation, led by LCCI President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh, with their counterparts at Istanbul Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Both the sides also agreed to utilize their influence in their respective countries to increase sector-specific trade and for initiating joint ventures.  

The Lahore Chamber is now making efforts to take bilateral trade to 1.5 billion dollar mark in a year or two and gradually accomplish the level of two billion dollar in coming four to five years. For that matter, bilateral arrangements and early implementation of regional trade agreements such as the ECO Trade Agreement have become the need of the hour. Moreover, the share of Pakistan's exports to Turkey is just three percent of the total exports whereas Pakistan's imports from Turkey account for only 0.4 percent of the total imports bill. The LCCI also signed a MoU with MUSIAD to establish cooperation in research, trade, industry, investment, agriculture and other fields. The MoU on behalf of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry while Eyup Akbal, the Chairman of Foreign Organizational Development Commission inked the agreement for MUSIAD.  

Turkish Airlines starts direct flights to Lahore soon. Automotives, textiles, energy, petrochemicals and retail sector are the areas where both the sides can cooperate.

The trade boost  has been advnatgous for Pakistan.