India rejects Turkey's repeated attempts to justify Pakistan's cross-border terrorism: MEA

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a statement, "This recent episode is but one more example of a pattern of Turkey interfering in the internal affairs of other countries. India finds that completely unacceptable. We particularly reject the repeated attempts by Turkey to justify the cross border terrorism practiced so blatantly by Pakistan."

Kumar said in a response to media queries, "India has made a strong demarche with the Turkish Government on the remarks made by President Erdogan on the Indian Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir during his recent visit to Islamabad.

These remarks reflect neither an understanding of history nor of the conduct of diplomacy. They distort events of the past to advance a narrow minded view of the present. India made a strong demarche with the Turkish Government."

Addressing a joint session of the Pakistani parliament, the President was quoted as saying by Daily Sabah: "And now, we feel the same about Kashmir today. It was Çanakkale yesterday and Kashmir today; there is no difference between the two," ErdoÄŸan said, adding that Turkey will continue to support Pakistan."

During his address, the President said the suffering of the Kashmiri people had worsened in recent years due to the taking of "unilateral steps."

"This approach, which aggravates the current situation and revokes the freedom and vested rights of the Kashmiri people, benefits no one," ErdoÄŸan said.

"The Kashmir problem can be solved not by conflict or oppression, but on the basis of justice and equity," he added.

"Turkey is in favor of resolving the Kashmir issue by taking into consideration the expectations of our Kashmiri brothers, through dialogue based on UN resolutions," ErdoÄŸan also said.

Kumar had earlier said, "India rejects all references to Jammu & Kashmir, which is an integral and inalienable part of India."

"We call upon the Turkish leadership to not interfere in India's internal affairs and develop proper understanding of the facts, including the grave threat posed by terrorism emanating from Pakistan to India and the region," he said.

India and Pakistan’s relationship touched new low last year and one major cause was the Aug 5 decision taken by Indian government over the Kashmir issue.

In a ground-breaking move since Independence, the Indian government on that day scrapped the Articles 370 and 35A which provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir.The government also bifurcated Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories, Jammu and Kashmir with an assembly and Ladakh without an assembly.

Article 35A of the Indian Constitution allowed the Jammu and Kashmir state's legislature to define “permanent residents” of the state and also provided special rights and privileges to those permanent residents.

Article 370 allowed Jammu and Kashmir to have its own constitution, flag and right to handle its own laws except on matters that impact national security.

Soon after the abrogation of the articles, Kashmir was in a lockdown and senior Kashmir leaders were put under house arrest. While the government eased the restrictions in phases, top leaders of the erstwhile political elites of the state like Omar Abdullah or Mehbooba Mufti are still under detention.