Pakistan, Turkey enjoy exemplary relations: President Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi jointly cut the first metal plate of the first of the four MILGEM Ada class corvette at a graceful ceremony in Istanbul on Sunday.

While addressing guests at the ceremony, Turkish President termed the brotherly Pakistan-Turkey relations as exemplary saying that great potential exists for collaboration in the defence production field.

Referring to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, he said the world needs to know about the sufferings of the Kashmiri people who are continuously braving curfew and blockade since 5th August.

Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi in his opening speech termed this project as another testimony of the Pakistan-Turkey brotherhood. He updated the guests about the recent situation in the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will visit Pakistan along with a delegation, comprising businessmen and traders, on October 24.

As per diplomatic sources, the foreign ministries of Pakistan and Turkey are working on details of the visit. The tour’s schedule will be finalized in the first week of October.

Prior to Erdogan’s visit, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi will leave for a two-day visit to Turkey on Oct 20.

The Turkish president confirmed his visit to Pakistan in a meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan on the sidelines of 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

During the meeting, both PM Khan and President Erdogan discussed the overall situation of the region and exchanged views on the occupied Kashmir situation. Matters related to the strengthening of bilateral relations and mutual interest also came under discussion.

Two days earlier, addressing the issue of hate speech at a high-level round-table discussion on “Countering Hate Speech” in the United Nations (UN), the Turkish President had said “Muslims across the globe had faced the worst kind of hate speech, discrimination, and persecution. Kashmir has been turned into an open prison. We fear bloodshed there.”