CENTRAL NEWS
The Turkish foreign ministry on Wednesday criticised India’s decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in August last year, asserting that it did not contribute to peace and stability in the region. The Turkish statement has been seen to have been issued in coordination with Imran Khan’s government in Pakistan.
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.
Turkey’s undercover network in India
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.
A second report handed over to national security planners over the past week said Turkish relations – some directly linked to Erdogan and his family – appeared to have been much deeper than anticipated. The three main sectors are Turkish state media, educational institutes and the nonprofit sector, or NGOs.
The intelligence assessment identified individuals and groups, some of them also suspected to be in touch with Pakistan’s ISI (National Intelligence Agency), who had been lured to work with entities in Turkey that had strong links with the Erdogan regime.
In particular, the report listed organisations that had started accelerating what it described as “lucrative scholarships” to Indians to study in Turkey.
Lulling Muslim students
“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 report said.
The list of organisations that sponsor the scholarships is long, the report said. It includes Turkey Youth Foundation (TUGVA), Presidency of Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB), Turkish Airlines, Yunnus Emre Institute (YEI), Turkey’s Diyanet Foundation (TDF) and Turkist Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA).
“Most of these organisations have direct connections with the Turkish government, President Erdogan or his family,” a counter-terror official said.
The TUGVA, which functions under Erdogan’s son Bilal’s patronage, has developed strong links within India by establishing connections with Islamic organisations in India including Jamaat-e-Islamic Organisation’s student wing, Student Islamic Organisation (SIO), the report said.
Building Erdogan’s Image
The intel report also accused the Turkish Embassy in Delhi of forging alliances with Indian NGOs, pointing out 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 its 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, now deployed with Erdogan supporters, and 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.
Neo-Ottomanism
The Ottoman sultans doubled as the caliphs of the Muslim world. 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.
Erdogan’s effort to expand its influence among South Asian Muslims comes against the backdrop of his pitch to challenge Saudi Arabia’s dominance in the Islamic world and 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. In April, Pakistan’s public broadcaster started airing Turkey’s television series, Ertugrul Gazi, 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 dubbed in Urdu, promoted by Imran Khan in Pakistan just as it was supported by Erdogan in Turkey, depicts the bravery of Muslim Oghuz Turks fighting the Mongols, Christians and Byzantines, glorifies the Ottoman Empire and is seen as a key part of Turkey’s “soft power” influence in the Muslim world.
