Turkey, a ‘special’ friend to Pakistan, was not happy with the ‘special treatment’ that was awarded to India at the COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland. According to reports that have emerged, Turkish president Erdogan was not happy with it and ‘stayed aloof’ from proceedings as a ‘mark of protest’.
Erdogan’s angst was the consequence of the ‘special treatment’ that was accorded to India. Although two other countries, the United States and host United Kingdom, received the same facilities, only India sparked his outrage.
The matter relates to the fact that India was one of the only three countries to receive accommodation in a hotel exclusively for themselves. Their leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden and British PM Boris Johnson arrived at the venue on their own motorcades.
Others, however, were urged to share hotels. Their leaders, too, arrived at the conference on buses that had been arranged for them. This did not go down well with wannabe Caliph Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Officials, however, justified the special treatment India was awarded citing the great strides our country has made towards combating Climate Change.
Erdogan had not attended the Glasgow climate summit due to a ‘security dispute’. According to Turkish media, Erdogan took the decision because his demands for security arrangements were not met. “When our demands were not met we decided not to go to Glasgow,” he was reported to have said.
Another official said, “The president took such a decision because our demands regarding the number of vehicles for security and some other security-related demands were not fully met.”
Turkey, of course, has developed a close relationship with Pakistan and has been peddling propaganda against India at the international arena for quite some time. Thus, it is expected that Erdogan was not too pleased with India’s increasing influence at the world stage.
Earlier in the year, it was reported that Turkey had set up a propaganda team in collaboration with Pakistan’s ISI to further their agenda against India. As part of the collaboration, state media in Turkey had hired a significant number of Indian Kashmiri and Pakistani journalists.
Later in June, the Indian Embassy in Turkey had to respond to Anadolu Agency, Turkish state media, after the media claimed that India had issued fake domicile certificates to change the demography of Kashmir. In the report, AA quoted Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, spokesperson for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, saying, “India continues with its design to change the demographic structure of the occupied territory in clear violation of international law, including the 4th Geneva Convention. India has already issued over 3.4 million fake domicile certificates.”
The Indian Embassy in its response stated, “AA is falling prey to Pakistani Propaganda. Journalistic ethics demand that they should check the basis of issuing of Domicile certificate by the Indian Govt and report that too. Not just become the propaganda mouthpiece of a third country.”
As for Turkey’s relations with Pakistan, there were reports that Pakistan was helping its ally to secure nuclear weaponry. Apart from that, there have been reports that Turkey intended to send Syrian Jihadis to foment terrorism in Kashmir.
Given such antecedents, it is not surprising that Erdogan was mighty displeased with the privileges India was accorded at COP26.
