ISLAMABAD: Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (GNAT) Dr. Mustafa Sentop has stressed for joint stance to combat challenges as well as hostility against Islam and also for establishment of strong communication network to convey rest of the world about threats to peace and mankind.
In an interview with APP at the inception of his visit to Pakistan for Second General Conference of the Parliamentary Assembly of Economic Cooperation Organization (PAECO from May 31 to June 3 in Islamabad), he said there was need to ensure new and more effective approaches to combat trend of hostility against Islam.
A strong communication network should be established and joint stance should be pronounced as the peace and security of the entire humankind are under threat. As for the Islamic world, he said it should strengthen the unity in itself and develop mechanisms to utilize common reason. The Muslim communities should become more active in the struggle against hostility towards Islam, he said adding that the acquaintance and contact of Muslims with other nations and communities will prevent the seeds of hostility sown in other societies to bush out.
To a question about steps to counter Islamophobia, he said there is need to properly name the problem we need to fight against. The name of hatred and discrimination towards Muslims is not Islamophobia, with a more accurate and clearer expression, it is “hostility towards Islam”. He said that hostility against Islam is a global threat that targets individuals, societies and states. More effective approaches should be developed to counter it along with unity among Islamic world, he added.
Regarding relationship between Pakistan and Turkey, Dr. Mustafa Sentop said that the relations between two countries have been good all along the history. Still, we need to work hard to improve the current situation and further our economic, military and humanitarian relations, he added.
Dr. Mustafa Sentop highlighted the cooperation between Pakistan and Turkey in various fields and said that Pakistan holds a special place for Turkey and Turkish people and we feel at every occasion when we meet with our Pakistani friends that these sentiments are mutual. He said that trade volume between our countries, which was $262 million US dollars in 2003, surpassed $1 billion US dollars in 2011, and amounted to $803 million US dollars in 2019. He said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan gave the instructions for the preparation of a Turkey-Pakistan Strategic Economic Framework Document, which will function as a road map for the next 5 years for enhancing our trade volume.
He said that military relations are another strong dimension of our relations with Pakistan. Our cooperation in defense industry continues with growth in recent years, as well. The fact that both countries are on one hand exposed to foreign threats and on the other combating terrorism increases the need to cooperate in military and technology fields.
Speaking about Kashmir and Palestine issue, he said that happenings in Kashmir and Palestine are alarming. In particular, the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution on August 5, 2019, which grants special status to Jammu-Kashmir, increases the current tension and closes the doors for a solution.
“We hope that the problem will be resolved within the framework of dialogue and relevant UN resolutions, taking into account the legitimate interests, wishes and needs of all the people of Jammu-Kashmir”, he added. .He urged UN to implement its decisions and resolutions regarding both Kashmir and Palestine issues.
Peace and stability of South Asia cannot be isolated from the Kashmir problem and the solution to this issue will be in the interests of all parties and the region, he added. He said that Turkish President has clearly demonstrated Turkey’s stance about Kashmir in his speech to the UN General Assembly in September 2020, as in every platform.
He said that Turkey will continue to stand by justice, peace and solution through dialogue in the Kashmir issue. He thanked the Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan Asad Qaiser and Chairman Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani for hospitality to beautiful country of Pakistan. He said that meetings on various topics will be held here with the participation of the speakers and members of the parliaments of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, which are members to PAECO along with Pakistan and Turkey.
In addition to the meetings on “The Impact of Covid-19 on SGDs Implementation in the Region”, “The Role of Parliaments in Enhancing Trade & Connectivity” and “Advancing Tourism for Development and Poverty Alleviation”, he said our women parliamentarians will hold a meeting to strengthen the bonds among themselves. He hoped that all these meetings and official talks will yield auspicious results for both for our countries and our region.
About possible future defense agreement between two countries, he said Turkey has succeeded in a difficult task in the world by bringing the localization rate of the defense industry to 70 percent. Of course, we want to further this cooperation with friendly countries and take it further with joint projects. He said that Turkish AUAVs (drones) are seen as a move to change the war strategy in the world and Turkey has been referred as role model for developing counties in the defense industry.
He said that Turkey signed an agreement with Pakistan to purchase 52 Super Mushshak combat training aircraft in 2017. A contract was signed for the joint production of ATAK Helicopter and MILGEM class corvettes, he said and desired to extend to all kinds of cooperation in this regard.
