Pakistani FM hails relations with Turkey

By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan

Pakistan's foreign minister on Saturday said Pakistan and Turkey are on the same page on all issues of strategic importance.

"It's always a pleasure to meet you @MevlutCavusoglu [Turkish Foreign Minister]. Together we will transform the friendship between Pakistan & Turkey into a more robust partnership," Shah Mahmood Qureshi tweeted after completing a two-day visit to Turkey with the Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and other senior cabinet members.

On Friday, Qureshi met his Turkish counterpart in capital Ankara.

“Expressed our thanks to Pakistan for declaring FETO as a terrorist organization, a right decision that confirms our brotherly ties,” Cavusoglu tweeted after his meeting with Qureshi.

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.

FETO and its U.S.-based leader Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, in Turkey, which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, including the military, police, and the judiciary.

Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu was among the first dignitaries who had visited Islamabad in September last year, soon after Imran Khan's party took over the government.

"Qureshi briefed his Turkish counterpart about recent developments concerning peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan and Pakistan's outreach efforts to most important neighbors and regional countries in recent weeks including Afghanistan, Iran, China, Russia and Qatar," the Foreign Office said in a statement.

Qureshi appreciated Turkey's key role in strengthening the regional cooperation on Afghanistan through Heart of Asia-Istanbul process.

The Turkish foreign minister said Pakistan and Turkey, as close partners, would continue their efforts to promote synergies on important issues, the statement further said.

On Friday, President Erdogan and Prime Minister Imran Khan also agreed to develop a joint economic strategic framework.

The framework would identify potential areas of economic and trade interests to the two countries, identify obstacles in the way of enhanced trade and investment and remove obstacles to enhance the economic relationship to extremely close strategic and historic ties between both brotherly countries.

A Turkish delegation led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would soon visit Pakistan, Qureshi was quoted as saying by state-run Radio Pakistan.

According to the Foreign Office, Turkish Fuat Oktay and Pakistani Finance Minister Asad Umar will meet soon to finalize the agreement which will be signed at the next Summit meeting of the Pakistan Turkey Strategic Cooperation Council to be held in the first half of this year in Pakistan.