On Tuesday, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressed 193 countries for the 75th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session by stating the Kashmir conflict as a “burning issue” and speaking about solving the dispute over Kashmir as per aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
“The Kashmir conflict, which is also key to the stability and peace of South Asia, is still a burning issue,” Erdogan said. “Steps taken following the abolition of the special status of Jammu-Kashmir further complicated the problem,” the Turkish President said.
“We are in favour of solving this issue through dialogue, within the framework of the United Nations resolutions and especially in line with the expectations of the people of Kashmir,” Erdogan said.
“The Kashmir conflict which is also key to the stability and peace of South Asia is still a burning issue,” he further added.
Last year, at the UNGA in New York, Turkish President Erdogan, Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Mahatir Mohammed, and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan had also made strong statements about Kashmir.
All statements by world leaders this year have been pre-recorded and will be broadcast in the General Assembly hall due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Along with talking about Turkey’s internal and external affairs, Erdogan also spoke about the Palestinian issue.
Although Turkey was the first Muslim majority country to recognize Israel in 1949 and formalize military, strategic, and diplomatic cooperation ties, Erdogan criticised the “countries that have declared their intention to open embassies in Jerusalem, in violation of United Nations resolutions and international law”, accusing them of making the Palestinian conflict “more complicated” to resolve.
“Participation of some countries of the region in this game does not mean anything beyond serving Israel’s efforts to erode basic international parameters,” Erdogan stated.