The Turkish foreign ministry on Wednesday, 5th August 2020, criticised India’s decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in August last year. For it failed to contribute to peace and stability in the region. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government in Ankara said on the issue, “further complicated the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and not served peace and stability in the region”, which called for a dialogue between India and Pakistan.
And the issued Turkish statement has been seen to be in coordination with Imran Khan’s government in Pakistan,only country after Chinato have put out a statement on the first anniversary of Jammu and Kashmir’s new status in the Indian constitution. However, Erdoğan’s government did not make any reference to Pakistan’s new map that had been issued just hours earlier that counts Indian territories as its own, which just proved that something is surely fishy going on.
And New Delhi isn’t surprised either. Why so? Well, in the past, Erdoğan has gone out of his way to echo Imran Khan on Kashmir. For instance, like in February this year, Erdoğan’s speech in the Pakistan National Assembly during his visit to Islamabad compared the “struggle of Kashmiris” with the Ottoman Empire’s fight during World War I.But this trailer isn’t all that Ankara has been doing and pulling behind the curtains. According to an intelligence report on the role played by fronts for the Turkish government last month accused Ankara of efforts to radicalise Indian Muslims and recruit fundamentalists, which confirmed that Turkey had emerged as the “the hub of anti-India activities” next only to Pakistan.
And as per to a second report handed over to national security planners over the past week said fronts for the Turkish government or the outfits, it supports are directly linked to Erdogan and his family and has appeared to have made deeper inroads in India than assessed earlier. Much of this effort is directed via three sectors: Turkish state media, the non-profit sector, or NGOs and the educational institutes.The intelligence assessment also identified some individuals and groups that are suspected to be in touch with Pakistan’s ISI, who had been lured to work with entities in Turkey that had strong links with the Erdogan regime.
The report particularly listed organisations that had started accelerating what it described as “lucrative scholarships” to Indians to study in Turkey. The report stated, “Turkey has been providing lucrative scholarships and running exchange programmes for Indian Kashmiri and Muslim students to study in Turkey through state-sponsored NGOs. Once the students land in Turkey, they are approached and taken over by the Pakistan proxies operating there,”
The list of outfits that sponsor the scholarships is long and includes Turkey Youth Foundation (TUGVA), Presidency of Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB), Turkish Airlines, YunnusEmre Institute (YEI), Turkey’s Diyanet Foundation (TDF) and Turkist Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA).
The TUGVA, which functions under Erdogan’s son Bilal’s patronage, has developed some strong links within India by establishing connections with Islamic outfits in India including Jamaat-e-Islamic Organisation’s student wing, Student Islamic Organisation (SIO). SIO’s FawazShaheen, however, has repeatedly denied the fact that the students’ body had anything to do with any Turkish group or entity related to Erdogan or his family. FawazShaheen said“We have nothing to do with either Turkish or other groups involved in anti-India activities”.
The report has also accused the Turkish Embassy in Delhi of forging alliances with Indian NGOs, pointing that Indian activists who serve Ankara’s agenda are increasingly being sent to Turkey on exposure trips and encouraged to speak against India. Some of the Turkish organisations that have been used to launch coordinated attacks on India are International Humanitarian Relief Foundation, the TDF, which also funds scholarships and Pak-Turkey Cultural Association.
The TDF is part of the religious directorate of Turkey which is now deployed with Erdogan supporters, and are tasked to build Erdogan’s image as the tallest leader of the Muslim community by championing the Islamic cause where it suits Erdogan’s ambitions.
Amongmany Turkey’s authoritarian leader for the past 18 years, the most prominent has been to lead the Muslim world, building on Turkey’s imperial Ottoman past. The Ottoman sultans doubled as the caliphs of the Muslim world and Erdogan and his supporters believe they can revive the Ottoman Empire’s former glory that collapsed nearly a century back, and its peak in the 1500s ruled over much of Southeastern Europe, west Asia, and North Africa’s coastal strip. Quite a bit ambitious, won’t you say?
Erdogan’s effort to expand his influence among the South Asian Muslims comes against the backdrop of his pitch to challenge Saudi Arabia’s dominance in the Islamic world, while offering a conservative Turkey with Ottoman traditions as a model for Islamic nations to follow.It is a narrative that works well for Imran Khan in the Indian subcontinent, particularly given India’s recent success in deepening its ties with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
And in April, Pakistan’s public broadcaster started airing Turkey’s television series, ErtugrulGazi, which is loosely based on the story of the 13th century Muslim Oghuz Turk leader Ertugrul, whose son Osman Ghazi is considered to be the founder of the Ottoman Empire.The series is dubbed in Urdu and promoted by Imran Khan in Pakistan just as it was supported by Erdogan in Turkey. The series depicts the bravery of Muslim Oghuz Turks fighting the Mongol, Christians and Byzantines, thereby glorifying the Ottoman Empire, which can be seen as a key part of Turkey’s “soft power” influence in the Muslim world.
