Indian media claims over Kashmir omission in Erdogan’s UN address

ISLAMABAD: The Indian media is claiming that the omission of Kashmir in the address of Turkish President Recep Tayyipe Erdogan in the United Nations National Assembly (UNGA) summit early this week was the result of Ankara’s desire for attaining BRICS membership of which summit will be held in Russia next month.

India is a member of the group where the decisions are taken with consensus. Pakistan has also applied for its membership.

The Indian media has pointed out that for the first time in years, Turkey’s President Erdogan skipped mentioning Jammu and Kashmir in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

What is being seen as a diplomatic victory for India has rattled Pakistan. Islamabad says it doesn’t show a shift in Turkey’s stand on Kashmir.

“We should not draw any undue inferences from one statement,” Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said during a weekly media briefing, day earlier.

She said Turkey had “a consistent and principled position” on the Kashmir issue, pointing out that Ankara had endorsed the joint communiqué of the OIC Contact Group on Kashmir.

The group also had its meeting at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) brinks on Wednesday chaired by Turkey.

Indians view that Erdogan not mentioning Kashmir is being seen as a major shift in its stance. This comes at a time when Turkey is trying to become a member of the BRICS grouping to forge alliances beyond the West.

The shift is remarkable because even as recently as February, Turkey had joined Pakistan to spread the canard on the Kashmir issue at a multilateral forum, the Indian media opined.

“We regret the comment made by Turkiye on the matter that is an internal affair of India, and hope that it would refrain from making unsolicited comments on our internal matters in the future,” India’s First Secretary Anupama Singh said.

The Indian media has suggested that the emerging markets bloc BRICS, which started with Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, added four new members -- Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the UAE -- this year.

Turkey’s request to join the BRICS is significant, as it is seen as a counterweight to Western alliances. Even Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who met with President Erdogan on Monday, did not mention Kashmir as one of the issues discussed.

Instead, he highlighted Gaza in his X post. Former Pakistan envoy for the UN Dr. Maleeha Lodhi noted Erdogan has consistently raised the issue of Kashmir in his UN speeches since 2019.

“Unlike the last 5 years, President Erdogan did not mention Kashmir in his speech to the UN General Assembly. He did that in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023,” Lodhi wrote on X.