Turkiye | Pakistan

The foreign ministers of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Egypt exchanged views on “evolving regional dynamics,” the Foreign Office (FO) said in a post on X on Saturday. According to the FO, the meeting took place on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkiye. It included Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Saudi Arabia Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Turkiye Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Egyptian Foreign Minister Dr Badr Abdelatty. In an effort to halt the US-Israeli war on Iran, the foreign ministers of the four countries had held two meetings ahead of the announcement of ceasefire, which is set to expire on April 22. The first meeting was held in Riyadh on the sidelines of a consultative ministerial meeting, while the second meeting was held in Islamabad. On Saturday, the FO said that the foreign ministers “exchanged views on evolving regional dynamics, reaffirming the vital role of dialogue and diplomacy in promoting peace, stability and shared prosperity”. ...

Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Saturday accused Israel of using security as a pretext to acquire “more land”. “Israel is not after its own security. Israel is after more land. Security is being used by the Netanyahu government as an excuse to occupy more land,” Fidan told the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Speaking in English at a panel discussion, Fidan said Israel had created an “illusion” internationally by portraying itself as acting purely in its own defence. “It has become very clear, especially in recent years, that it is more than that,” he said. From Palestinian lands including Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and now extending towards Lebanon and Syria, Israel was pursuing “an onward occupation and expansionism in the region,” Fidan said. “I think this has to stop,” the Turkish FM added. “Israel has to know that the only way to live peacefully in the region … is to let the other countries enjoy their own security, and territorial in...

After wrapping up visits to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday arrived in Turkiye’s Antalya on the third leg of his tri-nation tour, according to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). The PMO later said that Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, paid a courtesy call on PM Shehbaz, and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Special Assistant to PM Tariq Fatemi were also present at the meeting. “During their cordial conversation, Foreign Minister Fidan extended a warm welcome to PM Shehbaz and thanked him for his participation in the upcoming Antalya Diplomacy Forum. He said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was looking forward to his meeting with the PM on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum,” the PMO said. It added that PM Shehbaz thanked FM Fidan for the warm welcome and traditional hospitality. “He said it was a pleasure for him to visit Turkiye, his second home. He was looking forward to the opportunity to participate in the Antalya Diplomacy Forum and sa...

Crowds gathered for the funerals of eight children and a teacher in southern Turkiye on Thursday, who were killed when a 14-year-old opened fire at a school in a crime that has plunged the country in to shock and the community into grief. As family members and mourners flocked around coffins draped in the Turkish flag in the province of Kahramanmaras, people also placed roses on the steps of the school that was attacked, locals still reeling at what unfolded a day earlier when the teenaged attacker arrived at the building with five guns and opened fire. “We have a tremendous pain,” said Vezir Yucel, whose son played football in the same academy as 10-year-old Bayram Nabi Sisik, one of the students killed at school on Wednesday. “He was such a good kid, respectful and very hardworking,” he told AFP outside the mosque after the funerals. His 11-year-old son Yusuf – standing next to him, was shaking and crying. Authorities said nine people died in Wednesday’s attack — eight children aged 10 and 11 and their teac...

Turkiye cracked down on Thursday on social media posts praising two school shootings in two days, which have left the country reeling, ordering dozens of arrests ahead of funerals for the victims, who were mostly children. Authorities said 83 people had been detained, hundreds of accounts blocked and groups shut down after praise for the attacks — one on Tuesday, which wounded 16 people, and one on Wednesday, which killed nine and wounded 13. Eight of the dead were children aged 10 and 11, and their teacher, 55. The suspects in both cases were also killed, authorities have said. Tuesday’s attack, in the southeastern province of Sanliurfa, saw an ex-student open fire at his former high school. Authorities said he took his own life when cornered by police. Wednesday’s was believed to have been carried out by a 14-year-old student who arrived at the school in the southern province of Kahramanmaras with five guns and opened fire. Authorities have said the student, the son of a former police officer, planned the a...

ISLAMABAD - Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister (DPM/FM), Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Tuesday met with Deputy Foreign Minister of Turkiye, Musa Kulaklikaya, Assistant Foreign Minister of Egypt, Ambassador Nazih El Naggari, and Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia, Prince Dr Abdullah bin Khalid bin Saud Al-Kabeer.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif briefed President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday about his upcoming visits to Saudi Arabia and Turkiye “for further engagement to promote peace efforts” and took him into confidence on “all aspects of the dialogue” between Iran and the United States, a statement issued by the President’s Secretariat said. Pakistan hosted direct Iran-US talks in Islamabad over the weekend, marking the highest engagement between the two sides since 1979, seeking a resolution to the US-Israeli war on Iran. However, both delegations departed the capital on Sunday after the talks ended without an agreement, but also without a breakdown. It is now being reported that negotiating teams from the US and Iran could return to Islamabad later this week. On Monday, PM Shehbaz also told a meeting of the federal cabinet that “full efforts” were ongoing to resolve the conflict. The President Secretariat’s statement said PM Shehbaz called Zardari at the Aiwan-i-Sadr today, and the latter “appreciated the untiring ef...

An ex-student opened fire at his former high school in Turkiye on Tuesday, where school shootings are rare, wounding 16 people, including students, before killing himself, officials said. Special security forces were deployed to the school in southeastern Turkiye’s Sanliurfa province, where students were evacuated, the local governor, Hasan Sildak, told reporters. The former student, 19, used a rifle during the attack, after which those wounded were rushed to a hospital in the Siverek district, Sildak said. Twelve of the wounded were still in the hospital. Local media reported that most of the wounded were students. Television footage showed ambulances standing by outside the school as students fled the building in panic. “He took his own life when cornered by police,” the governor said. “We have evacuated the school and will carry out a thorough investigation into this tragic incident,” he added.

Israel “cannot live without an enemy” and its government is now trying to portray Turkiye as one, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Monday. “After Iran, Israel cannot live without an enemy,” Fidan said in a televised interview with Anadolu Agency. “We see that not only Netanyahu’s administration but also some figures in the opposition — though not all — are seeking to declare Turkiye the new enemy,” he said. “This is a new development in Israel… turning into a state strategy,” he added. Turkiye, a fierce critic of Israel, had joined diplomatic efforts with Pakistan and Egypt aimed at de-escalation during the US-Israeli war on Iran. Tensions between Turkiye and Israel have steadily escalated since the latter’s war on Gaza erupted following Hamas’s Oct 7, 2023 attacks. Netanyahu ‘described as the Hitler of our time’: Turkiye The dispute entered a new phase over the weekend after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned his US counterpart Donald Trump of “possible provocations and sabotage” that could je...

Islamabad - Pakistan and Turkiye have underscored the importance of further strengthening military cooperation between the two countries, with a particular focus on training and joint military exercises.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday said the centuries-old brotherly relations between Pakistan and Turkiye are rapidly evolving into a comprehensive economic partnership.

The Supreme Court on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on judicial cooperation with Turkiye’s Constitutional Court. On Sunday, the SC said it will be hosting a high-level delegation from Turkiye’s Constitutional Court from April 6 to 9, led by its president Kadir Özkaya, for the signing of an MoU. The agreement was signed at a ceremony held at the Supreme Court in Islamabad attended by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi and Özkaya. Addressing the ceremony before the signing, CJP Afridi expressed hope that the agreement will “provide a forward-looking framework for collaboration between the two judiciaries”. “One that emphasises the exchange of judicial knowledge and best practices, the promotion of comparative constitutional jurisprudence, strengthening of institutional linkages and the advancement of capacity building through joint programmes, research, and judicial exchanges,” CJP Afridi said. He noted that under the MoU, a joint working group comprising judges from the Federal Con...

The Supreme Court will host a high-level delegation of Turkiye’s Constitutional Court from April 6 to 9, during which a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on judicial cooperation will be signed. According to a press release issued by the apex court on Sunday, the Turkish delegation will be led by Kadir Özkaya, the president of the Constitutional Court, and will also comprise judges and other senior officials. “A key highlight of the visit will be the signing of a MoU on judicial cooperation at the Supreme Court of Pakistan on April 6 (Monday),” the press release said. It added that the signing would be witnessed by judges from the SC and Federal Constitutional Court, the chief justices of the high courts, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar and others officials. It added that the agreement was expected to establish a structured and forward-looking framework for collaboration, focusing on judicial exchange, capacity building and sharing of best practices in adjudication. “The initiative reflects the shared commitmen...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is set to host the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Egypt from March 29-30 for “in-depth discussions” on a variety of issues, including efforts to reduce the ongoing tensions in the region amid the US-Israeli war on Iran. In a press release issued on Saturday, the Foreign Office said that at the invitation of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Saudi Arabia’s FM Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Turkiye’s FM Hakan Fidan, and Egypt’s FM Dr Badr Abdelatty will visit Islamabad from March 29 to March 30. “During the visit, the foreign ministers will hold in-depth discussions on a range of issues, including efforts to de-escalate tensions in the region,” the FO said, adding that the visiting dignitaries will also call on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. “Pakistan highly values its relations with the brotherly countries of Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, and Egypt,” the FO statement underscored. “The visit will provide an opportunity to further strengthen Pakistan’s cooperat...

Pakistan delivered a proposal from the United States to Iran, and either Pakistan or Turkiye could be venues for discussions to de-escalate the war in the Gulf, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday. The comments, by an official speaking on condition of anonymity, were among the few signs that Tehran was willing to consider diplomatic proposals, despite having denied in public that it would negotiate with the administration of US President Donald Trump. However, later in the day, it emerged that Tehran had “responded negatively” to the US proposal and outlined five conditions under which Tehran would agree to end the ongoing conflict. The Iranian source that spoke to Reuters did not disclose details of the proposal passed on by Pakistan, or whether it was the same as a 15-point US proposal that has been reported by news outlets. The source said “either Turkiye or Pakistan was under consideration as the venue for such talks”. A source familiar with the matter had confirmed on Tuesday to Reuters t...

Pakistan, along with Turkiye and Egypt, is engaged in “active back-channel diplomacy” to “bridge the gap between” the US and Iran, an official in the administration confirmed to Dawn on Monday. The official said that through “active back-channel diplomacy”, involving US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Pakistan, Turkiye and Egypt were engaged in “quiet communication” to restore peace. The source said a “strategic synergy” between Ankara, Cairo and Islamabad had established a “vital diplomatic conduit, demonstrating that regional cooperation is the most effective antidote to escalation”. This “mediation effort” was more than just crisis management, the source said, adding that there were reports of tangible progress toward resolving outstanding issues and finding a sustainable end to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. The development has emerged after US President Donald Trump said he had given orders to postpone any military strikes against Iranian...

Iran’s supreme leader, Mojataba Khamenei, denied on Friday Tehran’s role in recent attacks in Turkiye and Oman, claiming that it was a “false flag tactic” by Israel instead. “I should also remark that the attacks against Turkiye and Oman – both of which have good relations with us — targeting certain locations in these countries, were in no way carried out by the armed forces of the Islamic republic or the other forces of the Resistance Front. “This is a ploy by the Zionist enemy (Israel), employing the false flag tactic to create discord between the Islamic republic and its neighbours, and it may also occur in some other countries,” Khamenei said in a statement published on his Telegram channel and official Iranian media on the occasion of Nowruz, the Persian New Year. This is Mojtaba’s second message since becoming Iran’s supreme leader following the assassination of his father and the previous supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Ali Khamenei was assassinated on February 28, when the US and Israel launc...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday acknowledged Turkiye’s constructive role in promoting peace efforts between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The development comes a day after Pakistan decided on a “temporary pause” in the ongoing Operation Ghazab lil-Haq against the Afghan Taliban in view of Eidul Fitr and “at the request of brotherly Islamic countries”, including Turkiye. According to a statement by the PM Office, the prime minister held a telephone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during which they exchanged views on Afghanistan. “The prime minister acknowledged Turkiye’s constructive role in promoting peace efforts between Pakistan and Afghanistan, especially in the recently announced temporary ceasefire, over the Eid days,” the statement said. During the exchange, the prime minister reiterated his strong condemnation of the ongoing escalation in the region, particularly the missile attacks on Turkiye, the statement said. “The entire Pakistani nation stood in solidarity with their Turki...

Pakistan expressed “serious concern” on Thursday on recent attacks targeting Azerbaijan and Turkiye, calling for restraint and emphasising the need for dialogue and diplomacy. The calls comes against the backdrop of an ongoing war between Iran and the US and Israel, which has expanded across the Middle East with Tehran targeting US bases and assets in other countries and Tel Aviv targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon. On Thursday, a drone struck an airport building in Azerbaijan’s exclave of Nakhichevan and exploded. Two people were injured in the incident, for which Azerbaijan held Iran responsible, but Iran has denied involvement in the incident and blames Israel. On Wednesday, Turkiye summoned the Iranian ambassador after a missile — apparently targeting a Cyprus base — landed in Turkish territory. Iran’s armed forces have also denied firing any missile towards Turkiye. Following the two incidents, the Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement that Pakistan expressed “serious concern” over the recent attacks target...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday held a telephone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in which the latter said Turkiye would “contribute to the re-establishment of the ceasefire between Pakistan and Afghanistan”. According to a post on X by the Turkish Presidency, the two leaders discussed ties between Pakistan and Turkiye and also “regional and global issues”. “Condemning the terror attacks carried out in Pakistan, President Erdogan said Turkiye will continue to stand by Pakistan in its anti-terror fight, and that it will contribute to the re-establishment of the ceasefire between Pakistan and Afghanistan, reached through Turkiye’s initiatives as well,” the Presidency said. “Stressing that engaging once again in diplomacy in the region regarding the conflicts that began with the attacks against Iran will be extremely beneficial, President Erdogan noted that Turkiye stands ready to provide all the support it can to that end,” it added. Meanwhile, PM Shehbaz said that in the phone...