The political tensions between Turkey and India have soared quickly in last 8 months. Turkey is slamming India at every International Forums, including the UNGA for violating Human Rights of Kashmiri people. The day-to-day intervention of the Erdogan’s chauvinist government into the internal affairs of India has raised many questions about the diplomatic approach of Turkey in South East Asia. The unnecessary intervention of Turkey in the internal affairs of India is something which is turning down the soul of international diplomacy. Indeed, Turkey has a poor background of human rights in its soil. Also, India has advised the Turkish regime not to intervene in its internal affairs without learning the facts. So, why the country like Turkey which is over 2600 miles away from India and has the least regional interests in South-East Asia is continuously spitting venom over and over? To comprehend the whole politics of Turkey in south-east Asia, we have to look first at the ambitions of the Erdogan’s regime. According to several political pundits, his overarching dream of establishing himself as an alternative Muslim leader prompts him to do so. Whereas, the intensity of the thirst for helping his Muslim brothers can be seen by the statements made by him on the Citizenship Amendment Act which hardly has any relations with the Indian Muslims.
On the other hand, the Turkish army is setting up landmarks in performing war crimes. Violating human rights in the south-east region of Turkey has now become Erdogan’s avocation.
Journalism under this regime is facing its hard time as opposing Erdogan’s decision mean a lot for them. The voice of media has been hurled many times since Mr Erdogan led the Justice and Development Party won the election.
The media is facing the poorer it could have faced in the history of Turkey under the far-right Islamist Erdogan regime. As reported by the Human Rights Organization of the UN, about 119 Journalists are in pretrial detention or serving detention for writing against the line of Erdogan’s decisions. They have been booked under the law of terrorist activities for being eloquent against the atrocities by the Ankara’s army in the south-east region of the country. Also, Turkey is standing far behind India in the 2019 world press freedom index. The quelling approach of the Erdogan’s Islamist regime towards its opponents is not a good sign for the region.
They aggravate this intervention to the Judicial system of the country, which also signalled the putrid intentions of the fascist regime. Also, there has been a dramatic rise in the numbers of prosecutions & convictions of charges of ‘insulting the president’ since Erdogan’s first election as president in 2014. The hypocrisy of Erdogan’s tears on the world platform has waterboarded the soul of human rights many times on various international forums.
As regarding India, many times he outcries on the abuses of primitive human rights of the Kashmiri people and raised his voice for the independence of the Kashmir. However, his approach on PKK, a separatist group in the south-east region of Turkey is in contrast as what he spoke on Kashmir. JDP has no tolerance policy on the voices which can dismantle the sovereignty of its country. Also, the Ankara’s army is being accused of many war crimes in the south-east region of Turkey and the Northeast region of Syria, while supporting Pakistan for sponsoring state terrorism. Turkey with its Syrian rebel allies who allegedly want to make a safe zone in Syria is now committing mass rapes, tortures and killings, rather making it a miserable zone for the civilians. As per the reports of the Amnesty International, the Turkish army has conducted several war crimes against civilians in the Syrian territory. According to them, there is enough evidence of indiscriminate attacks of the Ankara’s army in residential areas, including many schools. The result of this report costs them with the detention of their Turkish Chairman, Mr Taner Kilic.
Many reports disclosed that since Turkey invades Syria over 300 civilians including children have been killed in various attacks. So, why a country like Turkey who has a tainted track record of human rights is showing its solidarity for the Kashmiri people who have been feeling safe since the abrogation of article 370?
As per the reports of an independent organization, the militancy has been reduced significantly after the Modi government revoked article 370. Also, there is a fall of around 70% in the casualties of the army personnel in the valley. This all can not be heard in the voices of the western media.
Moreover, Turkey also stands behind India to give internet independence. New Turkish law on media regulations over internet and news broadcasters prompts various debates on the freedom of expressions.
Also, Wikipedia remains blocked in Turkey since April 2017 and over 100,000 websites were reportedly blocked in 2017. From the persecution of rights groups like Amnesty International to the internet censorship, Erdogan trying to quell every voice which he seems a danger to his political legacy. According to the report on Internet freedom by Freedom House, Turkey’s performance is one of the worst in giving rights to Internet users. They scaled Turkey in the ‘not free’ zone which was the worst category labelled by the organization. Whereas, India stands in the ‘partly free’ section.
Also, Mr Erdogan ambitions to paint himself as the rising leader of the Muslim world is the reason to squabble a diplomatic tussle with India. Erdogan’s tarnished image in OIC and GCC is also prompting Turkey to wage a war against apostate Muslim leaders of the middle east. He is going far ahead of the Turkish secular values to question India to show himself as the messiah of the new Muslim world.
While the sole atomic-powered Muslim country, Pakistan is also the reason behind its trivial tryst over Kashmir. The improbable dream of Erdogan to turn into the commander of the Muslim world by worsening the relations with other states is not a smart work. Although, the retaliation of the Indian PM by visiting Cyprus and highlighting the Armenian genocide is the sign which India is trying to give Turkey very clearly.
Turkey’s ambitions of creating a new block are also getting cement by the organization of the event like Kuala Lumpur summit which many dubbed a ‘mini Islamic summit’. The intensity of the desperate attempts for winning the hearts of Muslims can be traced by the recent ongoing culture of Turkey, where they raised the questions over the CAA. Meanwhile, without knowing the facts that CAA is not for the Indian Muslims, Erdogan made his statement over Indian Muslims that this law can make Indian Muslims stateless. The dual standards of the Erdogan regime in his own country and outside the world is very perilous for the region and also for the world. Erdogan has to concentrate more on prevailing human rights in its south-east region of the country rather than hobbling to teach the chapter of humanity which they are passing up each time they shot a bullet in the safe zone and the south-east region of Turkey.
