India raises concerns with Turkey over Erdogan's Kashmir remarks

New Delhi: India has raised with Turkiye its President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's recent references backing Pakistan's narrative on Kashmir during his recent Islamabad trip.

Last week Erdogan said following his talks with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, "The Kashmir issue should be addressed according to the UN resolution through dialogue and keeping in mind the aspirations of the people of Kashmir."

He added, "Our state and our nation, as in the past, stands in solidarity with our Kashmiri brothers today." Pakistan has been courting Turkiye to strengthen its narrative on the Kashmir issue. India has maintained that the Kashmir issue is strictly bilateral in nature and there is no scope to internationalise it.


Erdogan's recent comments marked a U-turn of sorts after a hiatus of one and a half years when he had stopped raking up the issue in his public statements in order to get India's support for inclusion into BRICS partner mechanism and tapping into the Indian market. However, he is known for such about-turns, said experts.

In December 2024, Turkiye did not make any reference to Kashmir in the statement it issued after the meeting between Erdogan and the Pakistan PM in Cairo on the sidelines of the D-8 summit. It referred to Turkiye's support for Pakistan's economy but did not mention Kashmir.

Similarly, last September, during the United Nations General Assembly session, Erdogan did not bring up the Kashmir issue during his speech as he sought India's support to become a BRICS partner. Turkiye was selected as one of the BRICS partners at the October summit in Kazan.