Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif landed in Istanbul on Sunday and held high-level meetings with Turkey’s leader before heading for Iran on May 26. This is an important trip.
It comes after Pakistan and India fought a short conflict earlier this month. Pakistan is doing outreach to two of the region’s key Islamic countries. Pakistan is also illustrating how much it cares about the two powerful countries that are also non-Arab states. Turkey is a member of NATO, and Iran positions itself as an anti-Western country. As such, Pakistan is hedging, showcasing how it wants to position itself in an emerging new world order.
In Turkey, the Pakistani delegation was greeted by Turkey’s Minister of National Defense. He then went for a meeting with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Dolmabahce Palace.
The “talks centered on strengthening the strategic partnership between the two nations,” Turkey’s Daily Sabah noted. “Turkish Communications Director Fahrettin Altun highlighted that the meeting would comprehensively review progress under the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council, last convened during Erdogan’s February visit to Islamabad.”
The countries are focusing on defense ties as well as investment in energy and transport. Erdogan wants trade to reach $5 billion. The two countries talked about the “fight against terrorism,” however, they likely define this differently than some other countries.
What do they mean by 'terrorism'?
Ankara has backed Hamas, and Pakistan has backed extremist groups. Therefore, when they say “terrorism,” they mean something different. Ankara describes the Kurdish PKK as “terrorists.” The group has now dissolved itself. Pakistan opposes terrorism by Baloch separatists.
“We will continue to take steps to advance Türkiye-Pakistan relations and achieve our trade target,” Erdogan said. “He also stressed the urgency of operationalizing the Istanbul-Tbilisi-Islamabad railway corridor and praised Pakistan’s principled stance on Palestine,” the Daily Sabah wrote.
This is important and has wide-ranging ramifications, knitting together Turkey to Pakistan and key countries in between. Those other countries include Azerbaijan, Iran, and the Central Asian states. The Pakistani leader is expected to go to Azerbaijan and Tajikistan on his trip. Iran has a drone factory in Tajikista,n and this is important because it shows deeper outreach to Central Asia.
“Had the honour of meeting my dear brother President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul this evening. Thanked him for his resolute support to Pakistan in the recent Pakistan-India standoff, which resulted in Pakistan's overwhelming victory, Alhamdulilla! Conveyed the sentiments of gratitude from the people of Pakistan to their Turkish brothers and sisters,” said Sharif in a post on X.
After the trip to Turkey, the Pakistani leader went to Iran. He was received in Iran by officials, including the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
This was an important and symbolic meeting. President Masoud Pezeshkian attended the meeting as well. “Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, while referring to Pakistan's special position in the Muslim world, emphasized the need for joint and effective activities between Iran and Pakistan to stop the crimes of the Israeli regime in Gaza,” Iran’s IRNA noted.
This illustrates how the work with Pakistan is seen as an Islamic cause. This is also how Ankara views support for Pakistan.
During the meetings in Iran, the Supreme Leader spoke about the need to support Pakistan’s role in the Muslim world. He also discussed Gaza. “Ayatollah Khamenei hailed the end of hostilities between Pakistan and India and expressed hope that the two countries would resolve their differences.” The Iranian leader said “there have always been temptations for Muslim countries in recent years to establish relations with the Zionist regime, but Pakistan has never been impacted by these temptations.”
In addition, “Ayatollah Khamenei expressed hope that the Pakistani prime minister’s visit to Tehran would contribute to the comprehensive expansion of relations in various fields, especially in the economic, political, and cultural sectors,” IRNA added.
They also discussed economic cooperation. “During the meeting, which was also attended by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, the Pakistani prime minister hailed Iran’s positive role in solving the crisis between Pakistan and India,” IRNA noted.During the meetings, the Iranian officials discussed the desire to bolster strategic cooperation. “We share views that our joint borders have to be free from insecurity and the presence of terrorist and criminal groups,” Pezeshkian said.
He also noted that the two countries are key members of the Organization of the Islamic Countries (OIC). In addition the Pakistan Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan Asim Munir met the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri.
They spoke about eliminating “terrorism” on the border. This refers to the area of Balochistan. There are Baloch rebels in Pakistan and Iran. “Munir highlighted the necessity of enhancing collaboration between the military forces of Iran and Pakistan.”
