United Nations, September 23: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan once again brought up the Jammu and Kashmir issue during his address to the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, calling for the dispute to be resolved through dialogue.
“In South Asia, it is important that all disputes, including the Kashmir issue, be addressed through dialogue within the framework of the United Nations Charter and of relevant resolutions,” Erdogan said in his remarks.
New Delhi, however, maintains that the entirety of Jammu and Kashmir, including Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), is an integral part of India and that the matter is strictly bilateral. India has consistently held that no third party has any standing to weigh in on the issue and has repeatedly urged Islamabad to end what it calls illegal occupation of the territory.
This is not the first occasion on which Erdogan has used the UN General Assembly platform to comment on Kashmir. He previously raised the issue in 2019, shortly after India revoked the special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370. More recently, in February 2025, Erdogan brought up Kashmir again during an official visit to Pakistan.
Speaking to reporters in Islamabad on February 13, 2025, Erdogan had said that India and Pakistan should settle the issue through dialogue. “The Kashmir issue should be addressed according to the UN resolution through dialogue and keeping in mind the aspirations of the people of Kashmir. Our state and our nation, as in the past, stand in solidarity with our Kashmiri brothers today,” he had said at the time.
India had firmly rejected those remarks and lodged a protest with the Turkish envoy, calling the comments on Kashmir unwarranted and unacceptable. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had responded, “We reject such objectionable comments on matters which are internal to India. We have lodged a strong protest with the Turkish ambassador in Delhi. Such unwarranted statements on India’s territorial integrity and sovereignty are unacceptable. Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India. No other country has any locus standi to comment on it.”
Erdogan Defends Mecca Defence Agreement
Turkey, a signatory to the so-called Mecca defence agreement, recently entered into a military pact with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Ankara, however, has not deployed any security resources amid the ongoing hostilities between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
Defending the agreement in his UNGA address, Erdogan said the pact was intended to strengthen regional cooperation and generate homegrown solutions to regional problems. “We are strengthening solidarity among us & aiming to generate solutions to the problems in our region, from within the region,” he said.
Erdogan also addressed the ongoing situation in the Black Sea, stating that attacks on commercial vessels are unacceptable irrespective of who is behind them. “The recent attacks on commercial vessels in the Black Sea are unacceptable, regardless of who is responsible for them,” he told the assembly, adding that such incidents must be viewed in light of their broader impact on commercial shipping in the region.
On Gaza, Erdogan called for immediate reconstruction efforts in the war-torn territory. “We must begin the reconstruction of Gaza immediately,” he said, while also urging world leaders to “exert greater pressure on Israel.”