Turkish President Erdogan drops reference to Kashmir in UN speech

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not rake up the Kashmir issue in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly for the first time in years, extending an olive branch to India amid assembly election in J&K and ahead of the BRICS Summit in Russia at the end of October.

In his address on Tuesday Erdogan lambasted the UN for inaction on Gaza and accused Israel of turning the Palestinian territory into the "world's largest children's and women's cemetery".

For years, Erdogan referred to the Kashmir issue in his speeches at the UN, in solidarity with Pakistan. However, this time, Erdogan's speech came in the backdrop of Turkey's efforts to get associated with BRICS as a partner and ultimately join as a member, for which India's support would be crucial, experts said. The decision to skip references to Kashmir from the UN platform was also significant as it came in the middle of the election in J&K, they said.


Erdogan travelled to India in 2023 for the G20 Summit and ended the visit on a positive note.