ISLAMABAD, Dec 12 (TNS): Mustafa Baber Girgin, Ambassador of Turkey to Pakistan, at the end of tour of his duty to Islamabad, called on Sardar Masood Khan, President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir for a farewell meeting.
Ambassador Girgin said that his assignment in Pakistan was most productive during which he saw Pakistan making strides towards development and progress; and Pakistan-Turkey relations reaching new heights.
President Masood paid tribute to Ambassador Girgin for his effective and successful diplomacy in Pak-Turkey relations during the past four years.
President Masood Khan thanked Turkey for its strong, consistent and steadfast support to the right to self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir at the international forums, especially in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
Turkey, he said, is a founding member of the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir and has always called for an end to the massive human right violations taking place in IOK; and a just solution of the dispute.
President Masood Khan thanked President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for raising the profile of the issue of Jammu and Kashmir and in fact offering good offices and mediation for the resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.
The AJK President conveyed to the Turkish envoy deep appreciation of the people of Azad Kashmir for Turkey’s generous support to the reconstruction of Muzaffarabad after the 2005 earthquake.
“Now new linkages between the higher education institutions of AJK and Turkey are being explored”, he said adding that exchanges of faculty and students would further cement the brotherly ties between Turkey, Pakistan and AJK. In addition he said that exchanges of parliamentary and cultural delegations would further strengthen the two people’s historical bonds.
