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‘220 million honourable Muslims in India’: Owaisi’s message to Turkey on backing Pakistan
Asaduddin Owaisi warned Turkey against blindly backing Pakistan and urged it to recognise the deep-rooted historical ties India shares with the country.
Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday slammed Turkey’s support for Pakistan, urging Ankara to rethink its stance given that India has a far larger Muslim population than Pakistan.
The AIMIM chief warned Turkey against blindly backing Pakistan and urged it to recognise the deep-rooted historical ties India shares with the country before making any decisions.
“Turkey must reconsider its stance of supporting Pakistan, and we must also remind Turkey that there is a bank called Isbank, where earlier depositors included people from India, such as from Hyderabad State and Rampur State. There are many historical connections with India, and you must know that until 1990, the Turkish language was taught in the Ladakh area,” said Owaisi.
Asaduddin Owaisi said India has more Muslims than Pakistan and reminded Turkey that northern Turkish pilgrims once travelled through Ladakh to reach Mumbai for Hajj.
“Until 1920, people from northern Turkey used to come to Ladakh and then travel to Mumbai to perform Hajj. We must continuously remind Turkey that there are 220 million honourable Muslims living in India. This whole bogey of Pakistan being a Muslim country is misleading. There are more Muslims in India than in Pakistan, and Pakistan has nothing to do with Islam at all,” Asaduddin Owaisi added.
Calls grow in India to boycott Turkey and Azerbaijan
In the wake of Operation Sindoor and the Pahalgam terror attack, calls to boycott Turkey have intensified across India over Ankara’s continued support for Pakistan. The backlash has led to cancelled travel plans, suspended academic collaborations, and the revocation of Celebi Aviation’s licence.
Public outrage, amplified on social media, has also drawn attention to India’s humanitarian aid to Turkey during the 2023 earthquake, raising questions about the lack of reciprocal goodwill. So far, the central government has not issued an official response.
Several Indian universities, including Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Jamia Millia Islamia, and Lovely Professional University (LPU), have taken steps to suspend or end academic collaborations with Turkish and Azerbaijani institutions.
LPU, in particular, has decided to discontinue all such partnerships, citing concerns over the diplomatic positions of Turkey and Azerbaijan, which have sided with Pakistan amid recent geopolitical tensions.
On Saturday, Sharda University also ended its academic partnerships with Istanbul Aydin University and Hasan Kalyoncu University in Turkey. The university said the decision aligns with India’s national interests amid worsening diplomatic ties and ends student exchange programs, joint research, and collaborative courses.
