Islamabad (GNP): Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said Pakistan and Turkiye will keep pursuing dialogue to ease regional tensions while building up their defences under the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement.
He made the remarks on Thursday at an Islamabad event marking the 103rd national day of Turkiye. The agreement, signed on 7 August between Pakistan, Turkiye and Saudi Arabia, was described by Sharif as an important milestone in cooperation between Islamabad and Ankara.
He argued that the pact strengthens collective deterrence and reinforces a shared commitment to regional peace. Stronger defences, he added, would go hand in hand with diplomacy, respect for international law and the peaceful settlement of disputes.
Sharif then turned to Turkiye’s backing during Marka-i-Haq in May 2025, the four-day conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. He said Ankara stood firmly with Pakistan at that time, and that the gesture would stay in the memory of the Pakistani people.
That support, in his view, reflects how far the relationship has travelled. He called it a multifaceted strategic partnership that now spans political dialogue, defence, trade, culture and people-to-people ties.
The economic side, he said, must now rise to the level of the political and strategic bond. He recalled announcing the President Tayyip Erdogan Special Economic Zone in Karachi at the Pakistan-Turkiye business conference in Istanbul in July.
He used the occasion to invite Turkish businessmen to look at Pakistan, citing its young population, strategic location and growing economic opportunities. He urged both sides to turn goodwill into joint ventures, shared prosperity and jobs for young people.
The prime minister also traced the friendship back to the Khilafat Movement, a campaign to protect the Ottoman Empire after World War I. During that period, people across the subcontinent donated money and jewellery for their Turkish brethren.
He said that goodwill came back to Pakistan in its hardest moments, pointing to Turkish humanitarian aid after the 2005 earthquake and the devastating floods of 2010. After the floods, he noted, Turkiye built a modern hospital, a school and modern villages for the people of Muzaffargarh on the instructions of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
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Sharif said Pakistan returned that solidarity when a massive earthquake struck Turkiye in February 2023, and that Pakistanis grieved as if the rubble lay on their own homes.
Practical cooperation is also moving forward on the security front. Earlier this month, the two countries signed an agreement to work together against terrorism, narcotics trafficking and organised crime. They also agreed to set up a joint working group between their interior ministries.
The decisions followed talks in Istanbul between Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and his Turkish counterpart Mustafa Çiftçi.
Prime Minister Sharif said, “We stood with our Turkish brothers and sisters, in their hour of sorrow.”
Managing Editor at Global News Pakistan (GNP), with a Bachelor's degree in International Relations from Riphah International University, graduated with a Gold Medal. Reach out at sabahtareengnp@gmail.com
