ISLAMABAD: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will pay an official visit to

Pakistan on Oct 23 to cement relations between the two countries and to extend full
support to Pakistan�s stance on the Kashmir issue.

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday telephoned the Turkish president and said that
Mr Erdogan would visit Pakistan �later this month�.

According to Prime Minister Office (PMO), Mr Khan telephoned the Turkish president
to exchange views on recent developments and apprised the latter that Pakistan
fully understood Turkey�s concerns relating to terrorism.

The PMO quoted the prime minister as saying: �As a country which has lost more than
70,000 lives due to terrorism and borne the burden of more than three million
refugees for decades, Pakistan is fully cognisant of threats and challenges being
faced by Turkey having lost 40,000 of its people to terrorism.�

ARTICLE CONTINUES AFTER AD

The prime minister said that like always, Pakistan stood in full support and
solidarity with Turkey.

�We pray that Turkey�s efforts for enhanced security, regional stability and
peaceful resolution of the Syrian situation are fully successful,� he added.

About the forthcoming visit of the Turkish president to Pakistan, the prime
minister said: �The government and the people of Pakistan are looking forward to
accord a warm welcome to President Erdogan on his forthcoming visit to Pakistan
later this month.�

On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session, Pakistani, Turkish and

Malaysian leaders met and decided to launch a joint international English language
TV channel on the pattern of BBC.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2019