President Arif Alvi confers Nishan-e-Imtiaz on Turkish Army chief

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi has conferred Nishan-e-Imtiaz (Military) upon Chief of General Staff of Turkish Armed Forces General Yasar Guler in a special investiture ceremony at Aiwan-e-Sadr Islamabad on Wednesday.

Later, General Yasar Guler, along with his delegation, called on the president. On the occasion, the president felicitated him and said that Pakistan and Turkey enjoyed an unparalleled fraternal relationship embedded in a shared cultural and religious heritage which had now transformed into a strong strategic partnership over the years and is growing stronger. He said that the English TV channel to be collaboratively launched by Pakistan Turkey and Malaysia would go a long way to combat Islamophobia on international level.

The president said that Pakistan and Turkey had supported each other in difficult times and appreciated Turkish support on Kashmir issue particularly in United Nations. He reiterated Pakistan’s concern on Indian Army’s atrocities perpetrated on innocent people of Jammu & Kashmir, especially after revoking of articles 370 and 35A in August 2019 by the government of India.

He also highlighted the ongoing Indian activities and human rights violations in occupied Kashmir and emphasised that the international community should play a positive role to resolve the Kashmir issue in accordance with UN resolutions. The President said that the two countries would continue to support each other on all fora.

He highlighted that our defence collaboration marked by frequent high level exchanges had increased manifold. He emphasised that we should explore ways to further strengthen relations in this critical area.

He also appreciated Turkish government’s support to Pakistan on Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) FATF and its position on UN Security Council reforms. The president said that the bilateral trade between the two countries was not commensurate with the true potential. He stressed that there was a vast potential for investment in Pakistan especially in energy infrastructure and food processing sector.

He underlined that Turkish investments in Pakistan had considerably grown, however, more needed to be done to realise the full bilateral trade potential. General Yasar Guler said that Turkey fully supported Pakistan on Kashmir issue and expressed hope that India and Pakistan would resolve the issue in accordance with UN resolutions. He further said that Turkey would continue to support Pakistan.