“If the president of a country, assures, brotherly relations and brings up the Kashmir issue on the day that the Pahalgam terrorist attacks happened. And if the foreign ministry of that country … brings up the question of, Kashmir and you know settling issues, it may be to show their brotherly affection to Pakistan, but it is certainly unfriendly towards India.”
Sanjay Bhattacharya, India’s former ambassador to Turkey (2018-20), who was a guest on The Gist, recalled that even during the Balakot strikes in 2019, and when Article 370 was amended taking away J&K’s statehood, “the Turks did not take it in the right spirit.”
In his view, Turkey had made a decision a long time ago, actually in the 1950s, to build relations with Pakistan. Both countries were alliance partners of the US, but even so, the secular governments of that time sought to ensure a balance.
The push towards less balance and a more pro-Pakistan line began with Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s election as prime minister (2003-14), which gained ground after he took over as the president of Turkey. He also began pushing a pronounced Islamist line, which was not acceptable to the Arab states but welcomed by Pakistan.
“In many ways I see Pakistan as being a loyal ally of his particular Islamist agenda,” said Ambassador Bhattacharya, “so the kind of moves you saw in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Maldives have a (Muslim) Brotherhood connection, (and) a Pakistan connection.”
His domestic agenda is also solidly Islamist, the religious factor is quite dominant in the delivery of social services, in some of the financial services, and their foreign policy outreach has this component.
Does that mean Erdogan is looking to Islamise Turkey through implementing Sharia law? Bhattacharya does not think so.
“Turkey is a very sophisticated and a very complex economy as well as a highly developed polity,” he pointed out, “he knows the people are split down the middle on this and he’s seen his majority dwindling in the elections he has contested.”
Tune in for more in this conversation with Sanjay Bhattacharya, former ambassador to Turkey.
