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Indo-Mediterranean connect via Gulf isolates Pakistan-Turkey nexus

Opinion by Paul Antonopoulos

India is working to broaden its vital geostrategic interests from South Asia to cover Oceania, whole of Asia, Europe, and the Caucasus. Foreign ministers of like-minded countries are meeting this month (October 2021) to discuss improved connectivity from India to the Mediterranean through the Gulf. Countries comprise India, Greece, Cyprus, Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and UAE. It's an ambitious agenda for national security purposes, and it opens better trade routes for Indian exports and gives an alternative to China’s BRI.

International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) 

INSTC is being implemented. When completed, it will reduce freight costs by 30% and travel times by 40%. The linkage will boost trade between Russia, Iran, Central Asia, India and Europe. INSTC is also of geopolitical importance. For example, Indian-developed port of Chabahar in Iran, will counter the nearby Chinese port in Gwadar, Pakistan as both are set up to service Central Asia from the Persian Gulf. Additionally, it will styme Turkey plans to create an alternative corridor to the Turkic Central Asia through forceful annexation of Armenian territory. Thus, Armenia has become strategically important to India for defeating the geostategic moves of Turkey-Pakistan-China combine.

Turkey and Pakistan's history of genocide and current global pariah status

The destruction of the Ottoman Empire preceded the creation of Turkish Republic in 1923. It was led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who had just completed “Turkey for the Turks”, an Islamist campaign of terror, that genocided 3 million Christian Greeks, Armenians and Assyrians. Pakistan’s founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah wanted to be known as the Atatürk of India — in his 1938 eulogy, he described Atatürk as the "greatest man of the age and an example for the Muslims of India". Given that Pakistan adopted a similar, genocidal Islamist ideology after its creation in 1947, the Pakistan-Turkey nexus has always been strong and aggressive. Ankara’s continuous rants against Indian sovereignty over Kashmir are but a manifestation of the same.

During the Cold War and the War on Terror, West maintained uncomfortable relations with many countries but this is nolonger required. For example, US once tolerated Turkish aggression during the Cold War because Turkey helped to counter the Soviet Union. Likewise, Pakistan was given a free pass for its nefarious acts within the country and against India. Now, both Turkey and Pakistan are recognised as pariah states; and this has led them to becoming increasingly isolated from regional and global players.

Frosty relations with Gulf and Mediterranean countries

The most telling aspect of Turkey’s and Pakistan’s global isolation is that Arab states that were traditionally friendly to the two countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, are now shifting their relations closer to Greece and India. Under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia has been progressing slowly, from medieval ideology to increasingly opening the country to modernity. Due to this shift in ideology, Saudi Arabia is increasingly disengaging from funding extremist groups, something that Pakistan is adamant on maintaining despite chronic social issues in the country that more urgently need attention.

The trade volume between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia was just $3.6 billion in 2019. India and Saudi Arabia in 2019-2020 traded $26.84 billion. Although impressive, it points to the geopolitical direction of Saudi Arabia as it now refuses to be locked into partnerships with only Muslim countries.

As Saudi Arabia has their own tensions with Turkey, particularly over the country’s unapologetic support for the Muslim Brotherhood that threatens many of the monarchies in the Arab Peninsula, it too is finding new partnerships and alliances. In one example, Saudi Arabia recently signed off on a deal for a Patriot missile system to be manned by Greek soldiers to protect vital infrastructure from any Yemeni attacks.

Opposition to Turkey’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood and Pakistan’s regressive ideology that belongs in centuries past has also seen great resistance in Egypt and the UAE, both of whom have strengthened relations with India. It is also worth noting that later this month, India, Egypt and Israel will participate in joint military exercises, the UAE is in a mutual defense pact with Greece, and Cyprus regularly participates in exercises with Greece, Egypt and Israel.

All the countries involved in the proposed India to Mediterranean corridor are already consolidating their relations in the military and economic fields. However, the completion of such a corridor would consolidate these countries into a formal multilateral partnership, thus further isolating the Pakistan-Turkey nexus of aggression. 

In this way, such a corridor will create an arc of peace and cooperation, crossing countries of different religions, cultures, ethnic groups and traditions. Such a corridor would be the symbol of tolerance that shows the involved countries taking the right steps towards a prosperous future.