Turkish-Pakistani ties highlighted at Ankara seminar

"Brotherly" relations between Turkey and Pakistan should manifest in boosted trade and human resource development, participants at a seminar in Ankara said Saturday.

The two countries, sharing "historical" relations dating to the Ottoman Empire, must strengthen the economic aspect of their relations, speakers and participants emphasized at an event hosted by the Turks Abroad and Related Communities Presidency (YTB) and a group of Pakistani students in Turkey.

"Turkey and Pakistan have stood by each other always in the most difficult times," said Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi, Pakistan's envoy to Turkey.

With Turkey and Pakistan being important players in the international community, Qazi said Ankara was one of the "important and strongest supporters" of self-determination for Kashmiris.

He said high-level political and defense exchanges between the two countries was a symbol of their "unique relationship.”

"As the two brotherly countries enjoy a glorious past, Pakistan and Turkey have an equally promising future," he said, adding that their vision of leadership was achieving a "robust economic partnership."

Turkish ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party lawmaker Metin Gundogdu cited the help extended by South Asian Muslims in the battle of Canakkale (Gallipoli) during World War I, saying Pakistanis loved Turkey and that the two could not be separated.

Yalcin Topcu, a senior advisor to Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said Erdogan raised the issue of Kashmir at the UN last September.

"Whatever the situation, we have always been close to Pakistan," he said.

Lauding the leadership of Pakistan's founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, he said: "It's because of Quaid-e-Azam [Jinnah], that Turkey and Pakistan enjoy such close relations. Quaid followed the thinking of Allama Muhammad Iqbal, who was not just a thinker and philosopher of Pakistan, but the whole universe."

"We have been, are and will be friends in the future too, but this relationship should be spiritual, not just restricted to words," Topcu said, calling for unity among Pakistani people.

"Unity is important which brings nations together -- forge unity and extend help to the needy, not only Muslims," he said. Halil and Fawad, Turkish and Pakistani students who came from Ankara and Bursa to attend the event, said the two countries "no doubt enjoy very good relations, but it has to be translated into increasing bilateral trade and economics and tourism."

"Not just economy," said Halil, who studies at Ankara Yildirim Beyazit University, "Turkey and Pakistan need to strengthen military cooperation as well."