India asks for non-interference from Turkey in Kashmir following Erdogan's comments
The Government of India asked Turkey on Saturday not to intervene in the internal affairs of the Asian country over the disputed Kashmir region, after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered his support to Pakistan in the litigation for this territory.
"We call on Turkish leaders not to interfere in the internal affairs of India and develop an adequate understanding of the facts, including the serious threat posed by terrorism emanating from Pakistan to India and the region," he said in a written statement sent to the press by the Indian Foreign spokesman, Raveesh Kumar.
In the appeal made on behalf of the Government of New Delhi, Kumar rejected "all references to Jammu and Kashmir, which is an integral and inalienable part of India."
Erdogan, who arrived in Islamabad on Thursday for a two-day visit, offered Friday his support in the Pakistani dispute over Kashmir administered by India, and criticized New Delhi, without naming him, for his annexation of the region last year and the severe measures imposed in the area, such as the cutting of communications.
The president of Turkey has advocated in the past for a dialogue that helps Pakistan and India resolve the seven-decade dispute over Kashmir, ensuring that no more deaths can be allowed in that area claimed by both countries.
India and Pakistan have maintained a historical dispute over the Kashmir region since the partition of the subcontinent after the British left in 1947.
Frictions between nations, which have fought two wars over this territory, increased last August when the government of the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, in an unexpected and unprecedented movement repealed the special status that gave the party a semi-autonomous character of Kashmir in his possession.
This status allowed him, among other matters, to maintain his own constitution, flag, legislation and regional citizenship.
The abolition of the status allowed New Delhi to annex the territory to the rest of the country, fork the state into two territories of the union - that of Ladakh and that of Jammu and Kashmir - that were under the direct control of the central government.
