Turkish delight
Turkish premier Erdogan’s visit was like a breath of fresh air. What remains to be seen is whether the event succeeds in removing some of the miasma in Pakistan’s political environment created by threats to block the Nato supplies by force and calls for the government’s removal through agitation. Being a responsible member of Nato, Turkey is naturally worried about the blocking of the Nato supply routes – vital, among other things, for the timely pullout of foreign troops from Afghanistan. Turkey’s worries are all the more understandable as Ankara is actively engaged, through tripartite summits, in the resolution of Pak-Afghan differences. While diplomatic restraint obliged Erdogan not take up the issue in his address before the joint sitting of parliament, he must have taken up the matter during his talks with the government leaders.
It was a welcome gesture on the part of the opposition to maintain decorum during Erdogan’s address. This was in a happy contrast to the noisy filibustering that was carried on during the last sitting of the National Assembly from April 25 to May 4. The Speaker too needs to be congratulated for giving floor to the leader of the opposition which was not a part of the schedule. While Nawaz Sharif’s absence from the banquet was widely noticed, his party was represented by a central leader. The Turkish premier’s observation that the opposition’s task is to guide the government and not to attempt to overthrow it needs to be heeded by the parties issuing calls for long marches on Islamabad though. The remarks by Erdogan whom Ch Nisar calls “a true leader of the Islamic world” seem to have had little impact on the leader of the opposition. In his welcome speech, he reminded the Turkish premier that that the smooth sailing of the joint sitting of Parliament was entirely because of the visiting prime minister’s presence.
Turkey was also an army dominated polity for a protracted period of time. What made it possible was that unlike any Pakistani general, Mustafa Kemal was the leading figure in the creation of modern Turkey. It goes to the credit of Erdogan and his party to bring Turkey out of the shadow of the army and make it a truly democratic country. The opposition and the extremist outfits in Pakistan need to take his advice.