Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for the adoption of the United Nations resolutions on Tuesday to settle the decades-old Kasmir dispute and end the Indian occupation in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir.
In his address to the 76th session of the UN General Assembly, Erdogan said that Turkey has maintained its position to work out a deal for the ongoing dispute in Kashmir for 74 years through dialogue between the parties involved in the dispute and within the framework of the United Nations resolutions.
Erdogan has always raised the Kashmir issue at the annual sessions of the UN General Assembly. Earlier at the 75th session, the president in his annual speech had said, “The Kashmir conflict, which is also key to the stability and peace in South Asia, is still a burning issue and steps taken following the abolition of the special status of [occupied] Jammu and Kashmir further complicated the problem.”
Erdogan’s embracement of the IIOJK cause has evoked strong protests and demonstrations in India as it claims that Jammu and Kashmir is India’s “internal matter”.
Meanwhile, Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai Secretary-General of Washington-based advocacy group World Kashmir Awareness Forum hailed President Erdogan’s reference to the Kashmir issue. He added that his words have given the Kashmiri who struggles for independence a new hope and encouragement.
Nabi reiterated that President Erdogan’s message advanced the promotion of dialogue among all parties to the dispute.
“This is the only means of achieving a genuine and lasting peace in this volatile conflict,” Fai added that the people of IIOJK have suffered too long. They demand and they deserve freedom and peace.
Almost 100 world leaders are participating in the 76th session of UNGA as the attendance has scaled down due to COVID-19 protocols.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan will be addressing the world’s leaders in UNGA through a video link on September 24.