New Delhi, July 28: India and Turkey do not need to reset their ties, and Ankara considers New Delhi as a friend of “significant importance”, according to Fırat Sunel, Turkey’s new ambassador to India, who believes both countries have to now “open new horizons” and “deepen” their cooperation.
In an exclusive interview to ThePrint, the ambassador said both countries are members of the G-20 and hence share “fundamental common values such as democracy, rule of law and liberal economies”.
“Turkey considers India as a friendly country which is of significant importance, on account of the latter’s location, human resources, vibrant economy and increasing critical role in the international arena…We don’t need to reset our ties…” Sunel said.
“Those existing ties connect our people. And the close cultural and historical ties between our countries oblige us to further improve our relations in all fields.”
Ties between India and Turkey reached a low point after the scrapping of Article 370 by the Narendra Modi government in August 2019, a decision that stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its special status.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had criticised the Modi government’s Article 370 move and urged New Delhi to resolve tensions with Pakistan through dialogue and not through “collision”.
In February 2020, during his visit to Pakistan, Erdoğan stated that Ankara would support Islamabad on the Kashmir issue and likened the situation of Kashmiris with that of his country during World War 1.
India had described Turkey’s comments on Kashmir as “gross interference in India’s internal affairs… and completely unacceptable”.
However, both sides seem to have decided to bury the hatchet and move forward.
Earlier this year, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu at Dushanbe, Tajikistan, and both sides vowed to “improve” their relations with a focus on economy and trade.
“In international relations, states’ being partners does not necessitate that they have the same view on every issue. Good nature of relations in general between two states should not be a prisoner of their differences on some specific issues,” the envoy said.
“We just need to turn our potentials to good purpose to open new horizons, to deepen our bilateral relations and also to strengthen our cooperation in the multilateral fora as well. Fortunately, we have many common grounds and interests for cooperation. And I am glad to see that both countries are ready to work towards this end.”–(Agencies)
