India has said that it has raised the Cypress issue after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, once again took up the Kashmir dispute at the ongoing United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Session in New York.
Within hours of Erdogan’s statement, Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Kavusoglu and raised the issue of Cyprus.
Giving information about this meeting, Jaishankar wrote in a tweet, ‘Met the Foreign Minister of Turkey and many issues were discussed with him. Among them are the crisis in Ukraine, food security, G20 countries and Cyprus.’
This act by India is being seen by diplomatic circles as a blackmailing tactic. They say that Cyprus was a part of the Ottoman Empire and hence belongs to Turkey while the British Empire unjustly divided it after its occupation. On the contrary, Kashmir is an international dispute and the United Nations have passed many resolutions asking for its political settlement through plebiscite.
Addressing the United Nations (UN), a few hours before the meeting of Jaishankar and the Turkish Foreign Minister, Erdogan said that it has been 75 years since India and Pakistan became independent and sovereign countries, but till now there is no peaceful relationship between the two countries.
It’s unfortunate. “We hope that the Kashmir issue will be resolved and there will be lasting peace.”—KMS
