Turkey, India’s friend or enemy, read full story
What came out of Aamir Khan’s meeting with Turkish President Ardoan’s wife, created an uproar.
These pictures were discussed well on social media, TV, websites. If all of them were asked to squeeze, then it was understood – Aamir Khan went to Turkey, this has angered many people in India. but why?
The answer may be found – because Turkey is a friend of Pakistan.
Or as BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Subrahmanyam Swamy said that Turkey is ‘anti-India’ (anti-India).
But are both these things true?
Diplomat MK Bhadrakumar, who was India’s ambassador to Turkey, says, “This is absolutely nonsense, whoever is saying so has no understanding of Turkey.”
Is Turkey a friend or enemy of India? To understand this, the past of their relationship will have to be explored.
First attempt at friendship
India gained independence in 1947 and the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru preferred relations with Turkey from the beginning, including Turkey.
AK Pasha, a professor of West Asia affairs at Delhi’s JNU University, says that Nehru wanted to maintain good relations with Turkey right from the end of the Second World War.
Professor Pasha says, “There Mustafa Kamal Pasha removed the Ottoman Sultan and established a secular, democratic republic, and Nehru was impressed that for the first time such a large Muslim nation was going to become a secular country. He wanted that India should also become such a country “.
But after the Second World War, when the world was divided into two poles headed by the United States and the then Soviet Union, and the Cold War began, Turkey went into the US camp and joined the NATO, the military organization of the western countries. Pakistan joined the American camp.
India was disappointed with this because India remained neutral during the Cold War, neither did it hold the hands of Western-led US forces, nor did it carry the flag of another communist Soviet Union-led faction.
Increased distance during the Cold War
Professor Pasha says, “Nehru was deeply saddened that despite our efforts, Turkey joined the US with Western countries.”
So during the Cold War, the distance between India and Turkey kept increasing. Turkey moved closer to the United States, India too began to approach the Soviet Union camp.
And on the other hand Turkey and Pakistan went on to become friends. Turkey also provided military help to Pakistan. Turkey greatly assisted Pakistan in the Indo-Pakistan Wars of 1965 and 1971.
After this, when Turkey attacked Cyprus in 1974, relations between India and Turkey continued to deteriorate as India supported Cyprus because the President of Archbishop Makrios Naim was a big leader of the Non-Aligned Movement.
Professor Pasha explains, “Indira Gandhi was deeply saddened by the fact that Turkey took over a part of Cyprus, after which she took action against Turkey in collaboration with the non-aligned leaders. There were many other events after that. Since then, the distance between the two countries has increased, and Pakistan and Turkey have grown closer. “
Second try for friendship
Since Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister in 1984, there have been several attempts to improve relations with Turkey.
One of the main reasons for this was the issue of Kashmir, which started gaining momentum in the late 80s.
At that time, the Organization of Muslim Countries OIC had formed a group to investigate the situation of human rights in Kashmir and countries like Turkey and Saudi Arabia were showing a lot of activism in it.
Professor Pasha says that at that time India felt that there would be close work from Turkey, and Prime Ministers like Narasimha Rao and Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited Turkey with an intention to improve the relationship.
Similarly, Turkish Prime Minister Bulant Yevit also went to India and refused to go to India via Pakistan, saying that the ruler of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, had overthrown the democratic government. He came directly to India.
MK Bhadrakumar, who was India’s ambassador to Turkey from 1998 to 2001, says, “When I was the ambassador, relations were very good, the Prime Minister went to India, he translated Bhagavad Gita and Gitanjali.”
Professor Pasha says, “By the time of 1990, 2001, it seemed that Turkey would now be close to India, except Pakistan, but in 2002, the situation started to change when Ardoan’s party came to power in the name of Islam”.
Ardoan also tried
The leader of the Justice and Development Party or AK Party, who came to power by making Islamism an issue, tried to change the identity of Turkey, which was created by Ataturk i.e. Mustafa Jamal Pasha.
Not only this, they also started trying to make Turkey a leader and regional power of Muslim countries. They started putting controversial issues related to Muslim communities on the international stage, including the Palestinian crisis and the Kashmir issue.
There were attempts to improve the relations between India and Turkey even during the rule of Ardoan, but Professor Pasha says that there were two big problems in this.
The first problem was the trade imbalance between the two countries, which was in India’s favor. That is, India was sending more goods to Turkey, less demand from Turkey. So Turkey wanted it to be repaired, India imported Increase, and also work with Turkey in the Middle East on projects.
The second problem was that Turkey does not have its own oil and gas. Because of this, he wanted to make preparations to make nuclear power or nuclear power, because thorium is present here in the same way that it is found in Kerala in India.
So Turkey wanted India to give them the technology to make electricity from thorium, but Professor Pasha says that India refused.
Professor Pasha says, “Ardoan himself came to Delhi twice, in 2017 and in 2018, but he left angry that it is useless to hope with India.”
And since then, on one side, while India’s proximity to countries like Israel, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and the United States increased, Turkey moved further away.
Former Ambassador MK Bhadrakumar says, “India-Turkey relations are not in the best state. There is a lot more to be done about our relationship with Turkey. More efforts than we are trying to do with our relations with Israel. Take Turkey. “
Kashmir case
A bit of bitterness between India and Turkey between the two countries increased when Turkey rebelled in 2016-17.
Turkey blamed the organization of US-based Turkish religious leader Fettullah Gullan for this and alleged that the US intelligence agency CIA wants to use them to overthrow Turkey.
Gullan movement has also been active in India. And then Ardoआनan had expected India to close all the schools or offices of the Gülen Movement.
Professor Pasha says that if India did not listen to him, he too started raising the issue of Kashmir.
In fact, seeing that relations with India are not building, Turkish President Ardoan has now focused his attention on becoming the leader of Muslim countries.
This is the reason that sometimes he threatens Saudi Arabia on the siege of Qatar, sometimes he sends ship assistance to help the Palestinian people there during the siege of Gaza Strip, sometimes he makes himself a Islamic power by making the Hawia Sophia a mosque. Is trying to create, and ever vigorously raises the issues of alleged suppression of human rights of Muslims.
Statement on kashmir
In February this year, President Ardoan said in the Pakistani Parliament that Kashmir is as important for Pakistan as it is for Turkey. He also raised the issue of Kashmir at the United Nations General Assembly last year.
However, former Ambassador MK Bhadrakumar says that the way India wants to present Turkey over Kashmir is not right.
He says, “We want the whole world to agree with what we have done on Kashmir, but the truth is that most countries are not agreeing to it, even if they do not make it an issue, but they do not agree with it, but It does not mean that they are our enemies. There is a very large section in our country that believes that what the government did in Kashmir was not right, then did those people become anti-India. “
At the same time Professor Pasha says that even though Turkey raises the issue of Kashmir, the reality is that they are not giving any special help to Pakistan, but they have been propagating that we will support Kashmir.
Race to be the best
Former ambassador MK Bhadrakumar says that one of the major reasons for deteriorating relations with Turkey is India’s changing policy which Turkey is not able to accept.
He said, “Countries like Turkey have high expectations from India, because they have been dealing with each other kind of India, they have never experienced the kind of India that is in now, in which India is itself He behaves as the best, he is not happy with it. “
If Turkey is a friend or an enemy, the answer will probably be that both countries are currently competing in their respective races, and both keep trying to harass each other.
Professor Pasha says that the way India is trying to become a big power, Turkey is trying the same way.
He says, “The old wounds of pre-1985, we are also scratching and provoking them, and they are also repeating the policy of 50-60-70s in the case of Kashmir.”
Former Ambassador Bhadrakumar says, it is a good thing for Aamir Khan to go to Turkey in such an environment, and a sensitive India should present such people by making them its cultural ambassadors, rather than attacking them.
He says, “If relations with Turki are not very good, then such exchanges will increase mutual trust. And does Pakistan have anyone to stand against Aamir Khan? India should use them . “
