Haroon Muzaffar
THE relationship of people of Pakistan with the people of other countries started on 14 August 1947, the day Pakistan was created. However, the relationship between Turkish people and Muslims of India in general and in particular between the Muslims of the region, which now constitute Pakistan, pre-dated the creation of Pakistan. The distinctive relationship of brotherhood and friendship between Turkey and Pakistan transcends the physical boundaries and geography. Pakistan and Turkish people are tied with heart ties and they belong to the same heart geography.
Political history of Turkey and Pakistan of last 50 years of the last century shows remarkable parallels. Both countries experienced periods of dictatorship, turmoil and democracy almost at the same times of history. However, these parallels cease to exist when President Mr.Erdoðan’s Justice and Development Party came to power in 2002. Under the charismatic, visionary and inspirational leadership of Mr.Erdoðan Turkey started to break the shackles, which were impeding the Turkey’s growth and prosperity.
Justice and Development Party through economic, institutional and social reforms transformed Turkey from an ailing economy to a robust economy. Through financial discipline and economic reforms Turkey turned from a debtor of IMF to the lender to IMF. People’s prosperity increased greatly and their standard of living rises significantly. As a result, people repose their confidence in Mr.Erdoðan’s leadership and they have voted his Party to power in every national election since 2002.
A major success of Justice and Development Party is the phenomenal development of Turkey’s infrastructure. Turkey’s infrastructure development stretches from roads to information technology. Now Turkey has a superior network of roads, rail tracks, airports, bridges and energy infrastructure. This development in infrastructure contributed to the economic development by reducing the transaction costs and by providing the business people more ease to do the business. Additionally, this development in infrastructure makes the Turkey an attractive destination of foreign investors.
President Erdoðan’s success is not limited to the economic sphere. He brought Turkey’s politics out of different institutions’ tutelage. Those institutions considered themselves to be the mentor of people and consequently of every government. This resulted in the protection of the interests of a small privileged class and ultimately will of people was overridden by the petty interests.
Mr. Erdoðan’s leadership made it possible to ensure that the will of people not the will of a small privileged class be enshrined in the government policies and laws. His best weapon to overcome the problem of institutional tutelage was elections. During his political career whenever he felt that it becomes difficult to serve the people due to institutional tutelage he decided to go to people through election. And in every election Turkish people reposed their confidence in him and gave him the mandate to govern.
In the realm of foreign policy Mr.Erdoðan changed the course of Turkish foreign policy from the euro-centred and western-dependent foreign policy to a more independent foreign policy. One of the hallmarks of Turkish foreign policy under Mr.Erdoðan’s leadership is to stand with the oppressed people of the world and raise the voice for them on every global platform.
Turkey’s unequivocal, firm and resolute support for the Kashmiris in response to India’s current oppressive and draconian actions is the manifestation of Turkey’s foreign policy of raising voice against the oppressors and standing with the oppressed people. In a similar vein, opposed to other countries Turkey’s presence in Syria is to help the oppressed people and using her legal right to protect her international borders from the terrorists. That’s why Pakistan is one of the rare countries which fully supported Turkey’s operation peace spring in northern Syria.
The committed political support for each other’s national interests by the respective governments and people’s love and support for each other in general and particularly during hard times is an exhibit of deep brotherly relations.
However, it is a matter of grave concern that beside strong political and people-to-people relationships the volume of trade between two countries is miniscule. It is high time for the two countries to take concrete steps to increase trade between the two countries. One such step to break the trade barriers is to ink the long-awaited free trade agreement between the two countries. One must hope that during President Erdogan’s current visit, there will be a significant progress towards the free trade agreement.
In the context of current challenges faced by Muslim world it is highly pertinent that Turkey and Pakistan provide leadership to overcome these challenges. In order to provide the leadership and solutions to the problems it is vital to get benefit from each other’s knowledge and experiences. For this purpose, leaders of both countries shall direct the relevant authorities to form different platforms, which bring the leaders, religious scholars, scientists and youth of both countries together. Mr. President, we welcome you to Pakistan and hope that this visit will bring more strength to our relationship. Yaþasýn Pak-TürkKardeþliði! Pak-Turk Dosti Zindabad!
—The writer is an Assistant Professor at AYBU Business School, Ankara Yýldýrým Beyazýt University, Turkey.
