Merhaba sevgilim, (Hello my dear)
We are those two nations on the planet earth for whom it won’t be wrong to say that they are the ones connected by their hearts, souls and minds, if not through any land or maritime border. This bond of kardeşlik (brotherhood) and arkadaşlık (friendship) predates even the formation of our modern-day republics and indeed dates back to the times of cordial bonds shared by my Indian Muslim forefathers with your Ottoman forefathers.
The bond remains cemented and is indeed being sustained through the outpouring of succour each of our nations shower on each other whenever a calamity or anything terrible confronts us head-on. Be it the Indo-Pak wars of 1965 and 1971, the Taliban insurgency in Pakistan or your tensions with Greeks over the disputed islets of Aegean Sea in the early 1990s and Cyprus in 1974 and the Kurdish insurgency against your state, we have shown to the world that no matter what and no matter how nefarious our enemies are in their designs and tactics, no force in the world can ever undo our support and love for each other.
Recently when my country faced India’s aggressive belligerence after an attack on a convoy of Indian CRPF in Pulwama by a Kashmiri militant from JeM, it was you who came out in support of my homeland and as the one and only ally of my birthplace by outrightly voicing your opposition to Indian violation of Pakistan’s airspace on 26 February. When Islamic biraders and neighbours like Iran and Afghanistan either stayed silent on Indian aggression or echoed the same narrative as those sitting in New Delhi, it was you with your courageous and valiant leadership and a man of his word who is your Cumhurbaşkanı (President) Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who loudly and clearly without any reluctance or sham attitude echoed the narrative of Pakistan against Indian aggression and false accusations of state-sponsorship of terrorism against the Pakistani state. Likewise, my nation stands with you if someone will ever try to cast an evil aspersion upon you.
Your Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in a telephonic conversation with my country’s Foreign Minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, on 27 February reiterated your succour in every sense to the land which gives me my identity and which is known as Pakistan. Another gem which goes to your crown is that you are the only OIC member which has supported the Pakistani stance by opposing Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj’s presence at this year’s meet up of OIC Foreign Ministers in UAE.
Canım (My dear), you’ve been a blessing to my country for decades through the productive steps taken and at times contemplated by your leadership in trying to solve my country’s issues, be it through mediating regional disputes or aiding the flood or earthquake victims of my country. Your unwavering and unprecedented assistance to my country in these difficult and hard times has indeed won the hearts and minds of many in my country and across the Muslim world. There are numerous parallels that can be drawn between us from being two predominantly non-Arab strong Muslim states to being located at the cross roads of different continents and having immense geostrategic importance attached to us for all the right reasons, be it cross-continental trade or diplomacy. These parallels also unite us along with gazillion other factors from the resilience of our people to the altruistic and praiseworthy services they have rendered for our respective nations, not just through their words but through their actions as well. If you’ve got a Nobel laureate in Chemistry, we’ve got a Nobel laureate in Physics. From Aziz Sancar to Abdus Salam, from Ataturk to Quaid-e-Azam, from Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Imran Khan, from Lahmacun to Qeemay wala naan and from Ayran to Lassi, we as countries have a lot in common and fortunately we tend to celebrate it in the face of adversity and triumph alike.
Tesekkurler Turkiye ve Turkiye’nin Cumhurbaskan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan! (Thanks Turkey and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan!). A halal toast of Ayran and Lassi to our time-tested friendship. Hopefully, you can play a fruitful role in the de-escalation of tensions between Pakistan and India for not just peace in South Asia, but for global peace as no one wants to witness another set of Hiroshima and Nagasaki-style attacks which have the capability to wipe several nations off the face of planet earth with their extent of destruction and catastrophic features. Nukes shall never be an option.