The Factors Of India And Saudi Arabia In Pakistan-Turkey Relations(2016-2020)

Pakistan-Turkey relationship gets significantly improved due to the changing dimensions of regional politics from the past few years.Both states got special status in each other priorities mainly due to the factors of India and Saudi Arabia.Islamabad is increasingly engaged with Ankara by drifting apart from the Saudi bloc after denying taking part in Saudi-led Yemen war,vis-à-vis,Ankara is progressively getting close with Islamabad under its vision of acquiring regional and Muslim countries leadership.In the study period Turkey proved more active supporter of Pakistan against India over Kashmir issue as compared to Saudi Arabia.In this emerging new regional dynamics both the countries also signed “strategic partnership agreement” in 2016 which made their relations stronger.The period from 2016 to 2020 is important because of the changes and continuity in both Islamabad and Ankara foreign policies.Both countries have initiated proactive and independent foreign policies in response to national and international requisites.Why Pakistan needs to engage with Turkey and how Turkey is proving an alternative ally for Pakistan?In attempting to answers these questions,qualitative and deductive methods will be used for collecting the data.The findings of the study shows that as concerned the Kashmir issue of Pakistan with India,Ankara has started more strong support of Pakistan in the study period.Recep Tayyab Erdogan has augmented his support to Islamabad’s stance of peaceful resolution of Kashmir through dialogues within framework of United Nations.He is thoroughly highlighting Indian violation of Kashmiris rights at numerous international forums.New Delhi is going further by disseminating Islamabad to put it in Black list of Financial Action Task Force(FATF)but Turkish support to Pakistan along with some other actors expelled it from being in Black Listed.India also approached to some influential members of Nuclear Suppliers Group(NSG)to get membership of the group,but Turkey showed its reluctance to support India entrance in the group.Along with China,Ankara supported Islamabad appeal for membership in NSG.On the other hand,Saudi Arabia,which remained a close ally of Pakistan throughout the history,has shifted its policies from Pakistan towards India on Kashmir,economic and strategic issues.Saudi Arabia has changed Kashmir stance and pulled out Pakistan from the Kuala Lampur summit organized by Malaysia.Riyadh started valuing New Delhi as an important strategic and economic partner.Turkey under its proactive approach,has signed strategic partnership agreement with Pakistan in 2016,negotiated Free Trade agreements thoroughly and actively participated in Silk Road projects.Islamabad is also providing the second largest market to Turkish artilleries industry.Turkey wants to challenge Kingdom dominant position in the Muslim world and its emerging voice for Muslims all around the world strengthened its ties with Pakistan.The main objective of the thesis is to explore Pak-Turkey relations from2016 to 2020 and analyses its different factors like Indian and Saudi Arabian in bringing them close.Generally,the study has comprised five chapters.Chapter one cover the Introductory part that briefly explaining the thesis and detailed the introduction of the research problem,study gap,research objective,research question,main argument,significance of the study,theoretical framework,literature review and detailed structure of the thesis.The second chapter titled “Pakistan-Turkey Relations: In the Historical Perspective” discusses in details the history of Pakistan-Turkey relations.Pak-Turkey relationship can be traced back to the institutions of Ottoman Empire.When the Ottoman Empire had near to fell down in the First World War,the Muslims of subcontinent launched a full-fledged Khilafat movement in 1919 against British.This strong brotherhood contact gave birth to the Pak-Turkey cordial and friendly relations.When Pakistan came into being in 1947,Ankara soon recognized Pakistan as an independent and sovereign state.The first Friendship Treaty was signed between the two countries in 1952 and Turkey acknowledged Pakistan newly printing currency in the same year.Cold war brought the two countries more closely to each other.Ankara and Islamabad entered into many bilateral and multilateral security and economic pacts such as Baghdad Pact in 1955 which later evolved into the Central East North Treaty or(CENTO)and before it in 1954 they had entered the organization of South East Asia Treaty or(SEATO).Islamabad and Ankara also established Regional Cooperation Development(RCD)in 1964 in collaboration with Iran which later transformed into Economic Cooperation Organization(ECO)by attracting more actors’ i-e Central Asian States and Afghanistan,Organization of Islamic Cooperation(OIC)in 1969 and Development-8 in 1996 as global organization.Turkey provided technical and political assistance to Pakistan in 1965,1971 and 1999 wars against India and Pakistan supported Turkey on issue of Cyprus.Ankara also condemned soviet invasion of Afghanistan which had badly affected Pakistan and summoned emergency meeting of United Nations organization to consider the threat of the invasion to the world peace and stability.In the era of post-cold war the two states felt apart on the matter of Afghanistan politics.Pakistan supported and recognized Taliban government in 1996 while Turkey supported Northern Alliance Front as contradicting alliance towards Taliban.Pakistan,playing a major role in the global war against terrorism,had won the trust of Ankara again.After 9/11 attack,Turkey was also targeted by Terrorist groups while considering her as Western ally.The two countries highly cooperated with each other in the war against terrorism by sharing intelligence information and economic funds.Further,Turkey played as mediator role between Islamabad and Kabil to build their mutual trust and friendly relations.Trilateral summits between Pakistan-Afghanistan-Turkey(PATTS)have largely affected Pakistan-Turkey bilateral relations.They began institutionalizing their relations by establishing High level Cooperation Council(HLCC)in 2009.This council holds several meetings till to the date in order to discuss and adopt some meaningful strategies in regard to national,regional and international requirements and challenges.The third chapter titled “Indian Factor in Pakistan-Turkey Relations” argues the relations of Pakistan and Turkey in the context of Indian factor specifically from 2016 to 2020.When Tayyab Erdogan won the presidential election,many leaders of Kashmir freedom movement and people of Kashmir have warmly welcomed Erdogan.Pakistani officials and many intellectuals celebrated Erdogan victory and congratulate him.The frequency of High official visits has been improved between the two countries.Kashmir remained the hot debate of all these visits.India has been standing steady in resisting the Kashmiri people’s willingness of self-liberation for the last Seventy-three years,notwithstanding the UN Resolutions,Shimla Agreement 1972,and Lahore Declaration 1999.The people of Jammu and Kashmir have long uprising,South Asia nuclearization,situation after 9/11 2001,military standoff in Kashmir,cease fire violation at LOC,alteration of Kashmir legal status in 2019,has made the region vulnerable for a potential flash point of nuclear conflict.Kashmir is important to Pakistan due to its large Muslims population,beautiful sceneries referred to tourism and three rivers commences from Kashmir to Pakistan which are important for Pakistan agricultural and industrial life.Kashmir is also important to Turkey under its agenda of peaceful resolution of conflicts,projecting as Muslims leadership and access to South Asia to challenge Saudi Arabia dominant position in the region.Turkey increased it support to Pakistan stance on peaceful resolution of Kashmir through dialogues under framework of UN resolutions and increasingly highlighting the Indian violations of Kashmiris rights on various international forums.Turkish such active stand on Kashmir get strained its relations with India.New Delhi is also blaming Ankara for funding anti-India elements.Turkey has also extended its strong support to Pakistan on financial and nuclear issues in the specific period of study.The fourth chapter titled “Saudi Arabian Factor in Pakistan-Turkey Relations”explains the relations of Pakistan and Turkey in the context of Saudi Arabian factor.Saudi Arabia has remained a deep ally of Pakistan throughout history but in the near past years it has changed its priorities from Pakistan towards India.Saudi has changed its stance towards Kashmir,demanded back its loan given to Pakistan in 2019,Stopped its oil export to Pakistan and pulled out Pakistan of Kuala Lampure summit organized by Malaysia.It has been noted that Saudi Arabia valued India as an important strategic and economic partner instead of Pakistan.It is mainly due to Islamabad increasing ties with Ankara which is threatening Riyadh dominant position in the Muslim world.The power politics between Saudi Arabia and Turkey is main factor in formulating new bloc in Muslim world.Turkey is proving a good alternative ally for Pakistan due to Saudi tilt relations towards India which is Pakistan major enemy.The fifth chapter titled “Conclusion and Recommendations” concluded the whole study.The partnership gets improved because of Turkey strong support of Kashmir issue and Pakistan coming out from the Saudi Arabian block.It also presenting some solid recommendations about the issued concerned and how the partnership could further improve in the view of regional and extra regional challenges.