Turkey from August 5 have started using the term “Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK)” following its Islamic partner Pakistan. This decision was taken just one day before India celebrated the first anniversary of the abrogation of articles 370 and 35-A.
This is not the first time Turkey has acted this way and has taken the Pakistani side by using the India Occupied Kashmir (IOK) for Jammu and Kashmir and later, started to use the term, India Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJK) and Azad Kashmir.
India had protested this move with the Turkish national news agency Anadolu Agency, an agency run by the Turkish Government. After the protest, Anadolu Agency began to use the internationally accepted terms of India administered Kashmir and Pakistan administered Kashmir.
However, in the last one year, Pakistan-Turkey relationship has reached a new level and Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs instructed the Anadolu Agency to again use the terms–IOJK and Azad Kashmir.
Turkey also opposed India’s move to abrogate Article 370 and 35-A. No other Islamic nation had commented on the abrogation which was passed by the Indian Parliament.
But as Pakistan got closer to China which is also financially invested in Turkey, the belligerence towards India started to grow. However, this Kashmir obsession has caused Pakistan to lose several of its allies in the Middle East, particularly its patron, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Sources in Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) told me today that several members have advised Pakistani Army & their civilian spokesperson Imran Khan to give up their obsession with Kashmir and stop fighting with India. Apparently, a section in Pak establishment agrees.
— Aarti Tikoo Singh (@AartiTikoo) August 20, 2020
A large number of Pakistanis work in the Middle East and send billions of dollars in remittance back home each year. But since Turkey is willing to lend its voice to Pakistan on Kashmir, there is a shift in the relationship.
Pakistan from its inception has suffered from identity crises. There was a time when it tried to culturally relate to Iran, Persia which is an ethnically and linguistically different civilization. In the 1980s came the obsession to act like an Arab and under the iron rule of Zia ul Haq, Pakistan took a turn towards Wahabi Islam, a price it is still paying.
Under the presumed leadership of Imran Khan, Pakistan is now trying to acquire Turkish identity by denying their own.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is now the undisputed leader of Turkey with dreams of reviving the Caliphate. Erdoğan wants to be the leader of the Muslim Ummah and with the help of a nuclear-armed, Pakistan he wants to create an alternative organisation to the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC).
Turkey is slowly committing diplomatic suicide as it grows closer to Pakistan by abstaining to use internationally accepted terms. Pakistan is not going to get anything economically from Turkey as this nation which is the bridge to Europe starts to flounder financially.
India at 2020 is a different nation altogether under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and has a lot of support from the Middle East. The official diplomatic relationship between Israel and the UAE has changed the Middle East politics completely.
Terms like Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, has no bearing in the international stage and the dream of creating an alternative OIC was stomped on at the very inception and Turkey must learn from that.
Proof of that is Malaysia that did a complete u-turn after India put sanctions on the import of palm oil.
Imran Khan has a habit of making bad decisions and then blame others. Already the Chief of Pakistan Army was given a cold reception and then a royal snub by Saudi Arabia as it wants better ties with India.