Erdogan Revives Kashmir Pitch at UNGA, Urges Dialogue Under UN Charter

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has once again brought up Kashmir on the global stage, using his address to the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly to call for dialogue between India and Pakistan.

Speaking before world leaders, Erdogan said disputes in South Asia — Kashmir among them — should be settled through talks within the framework of the UN Charter and relevant resolutions. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was present for the address.

The intervention marks a return to a theme Erdogan has pressed at the UN before. He spoke at length on Kashmir in 2019, after India's move to abrogate Article 370, and raised it again at the 2021 UNGA. In 2020, he referenced Jammu and Kashmir in a pre-recorded video statement to the General Debate. He did not mention the subject during his 2024 address.

His latest remarks come weeks after Turkey joined Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in the Mecca pact, a development that adds context to Ankara's positioning on the issue.

New Delhi has consistently rejected any third-party role in Kashmir. India maintains that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of the country and that differences with Pakistan must be resolved bilaterally, a position it anchors in the 1972 Shimla Agreement, under which the two neighbours committed to settling disputes through peaceful, bilateral means.

India's objections to Erdogan's earlier comments were blunt, with New Delhi calling them completely unacceptable and urging Turkey to respect the sovereignty of other nations and reflect on its own policies.

Bilateral ties have also been under strain since the April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack and the subsequent Operation Sindoor against terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Erdogan at the time expressed solidarity with Pakistan and called for de-escalation.