Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar to express solidarity with the people and the government of Pakistan on NATO attacks which killed 24 soldiers, the Foreign Ministry said on Sunday. Pakistan said NATO fighter aircraft and helicopters shelled two posts in Mohmand Agency near the Afghan border early Saturday morning. Following the attacks, Pakistan closed supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan via land route and also asked the United States to vacate a key air base in southwestern Pakistan, which the US had been using for years.
“Foreign Minister Khar while thanking FM Davutoglu for this expression of solidarity, condemned in the strongest terms the unprovoked and totally unacceptable attacks by NATO/ISAF which demonstrated complete disregard for international law and human life,” said the Foreign Ministry in a statement.Davutoglu assured Khar that Turkey as a NATO member would ask for an impartial inquiry into the attacks, the statement said, adding that he termed the loss of Pakistani soldiers as painful as losing Turkish soldiers.Pakistan has also announced to review its cooperation with NATO, ISAF and the US after the attack, which has also sparked a widespread condemnation across Pakistan.Authorities have stopped hundreds of oil tankers and containers carrying NATO supplies from proceeding to Afghanistan after the top political and military leadership decided to suspend the supply lines.
