Turkish, Pakistani FMs meet in capital Ankara

Turkey’s foreign minister met his Pakistani counterpart in capital Ankara on Friday.

Mevlut Cavusoglu hosted Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who accompanies Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in his two-day official visit to Turkey, in his office for talks.

Sharing two photos of their meeting on Twitter, Cavusoglu posted: “Discussed bilateral relationsregional developments w/Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, FM of friendly and brotherly #Pakistan.”

“Expressed our thanks to Pakistan for declaring FETO as a terrorist organization, a right decision that confirms our brotherly ties.”

Last month, Pakistan’s top court ordered the government to declare FETO and associated groups as outlawed and banned its affiliated schools in the country.

The court also ordered the government to hand over all these schools to the Turkish government.

After the top court decision, Pakistan’s Interior Ministry declared the Pak-Turk Cag Education Foundation a terrorist organization and banned its activities in the country.

On the meeting of the top two diplomats, Pakistani Foreign Ministry said that Qureshi briefed Cavusoglu about “the recent developments concerning peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan.”

“He also informed his Turkish counterpart, in detail, about Pakistan's outreach efforts to most important neighbors and regional countries, in the recent weeks, including Afghanistan, Iran, China, Russia and Qatar,” the statement read.

“The Foreign Minister added that desire to support and facilitate an inclusive, Afghan owned, Afghan led process had emerged as a notable convergence and shared desire among all, particularly Afghanistan’s neighbors, who had serious stakes in an amicable resolution of the four decades old conflict.

“The Foreign Minister appreciated Turkey's key role in strengthening the regional cooperation on Afghanistan through the Heart of Asia - Istanbul process,” it added.

Premier Khan's first official visit to Turkey since taking office in August comes at the invitation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

*Islamuddin Sajid from Islamabad contributed the story