At UN, Erdoğan says East Mediterranean projects need Türkiye, raises Kashmir

MNTV Analysis Desk

NEW YORK (MNTV) – When Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warned the UN General Assembly this week that “any project in the Eastern Mediterranean excluding Türkiye and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is bound to fail,” it was more than rhetoric.

It was a veiled attack on the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) — the flagship initiative launched at last year’s G20 summit to link India, the Gulf, Israel, and Europe.

For Ankara, IMEC’s design is a red flag. The corridor pointedly bypasses Türkiye, despite its geography as the most direct land bridge between Asia and Europe and its control of Mediterranean trade arteries.

Erdoğan’s remark signaled that he will use every global platform — including the UNGA — to underline that leaving Türkiye out of grand connectivity projects is a strategic mistake.

“Erdoğan is saying: no corridor in my backyard works without me,” said a diplomat. By linking IMEC to Cyprus, he added an old grievance — the isolation of Turkish Cypriots — to a new one: Ankara’s exclusion from regional infrastructure.

It was a reminder that Türkiye, positioned at the crossroads of East and West, refuses to be a spectator while new trade routes are charted.

Why Kashmir still features

While Gaza and IMEC dominated headlines, Erdoğan also revived another familiar theme: Kashmir.

“We advocate resolving the Kashmir issue via dialogue based on United Nations Security Council resolutions and the aspirations of our Kashmiri brothers and sisters,” he told delegates.

The reference marked a return after he skipped Kashmir in 2024, though from 2019 to 2023 he raised it nearly every year. For Erdoğan, Kashmir serves as a parallel to Palestine — a long-frozen conflict where a Muslim population, in his telling, faces repression. It is a way to burnish his image as a defender of Muslim causes while signaling solidarity with Pakistan.

Erdoğan’s comments have repeatedly irritated India. When he backed Pakistan in the recent conflict with India, nationalist groups in India launched campaigns calling for a boycott of Turkish goods and travel. India also canceled some defense deals and slowed bilateral engagements.

But the anger did not fundamentally alter economic ties. Trade between the two countries has continued to expand, especially in sectors like textiles, machinery, and chemicals. Indian tourists still flock to Türkiye, and Turkish construction firms remain active in India’s infrastructure sector.

“New Delhi makes a point of pushing back diplomatically whenever Erdoğan raises Kashmir,” said a South Asia analyst. “But the boycott talk never really translated into a collapse of ties. Business goes on.”

The juxtaposition of IMEC and Kashmir in Erdoğan’s UNGA speech reflects his careful balancing act. With IMEC, he is pushing back against an initiative led by India, the U.S., and Israel that sidelines Türkiye. With Kashmir, he is reinforcing ties with Pakistan while pressing India where it is most sensitive.

Why this matters now

• For Türkiye: IMEC’s progress would reshape trade without Ankara. Erdoğan’s warning was a shot across the bow to Washington, Brussels, and New Delhi.
• For India: The corridor is a prestige project, and Erdoğan’s criticism adds another irritant alongside Kashmir. But India has so far kept trade channels open despite political frictions.
• For Pakistan: Erdoğan’s consistent support on Kashmir remains valuable diplomatic achievement.
• For the West: His speech shows how Gaza, Kashmir, and IMEC are all being folded into Türkiye’s narrative of indispensability.