Advani's Turkey visit will have a bearing on summit

By Kesava Menon

ANKARA, JUNE 29. The Union Home Minister, Mr. L.K. Advani's current visit to Turkey was planned well before the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, invited the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, for a summit meeting. However, Mr. Advani's visit is bound to be seen in the context of the summit and will have some bearing on the flow of the forthcoming discussions between India and Pakistan. Especially because India is currently having a positive and cooperative engagement with Turkey, one of Pakistan's closest and oldest friends, in respect of a phenomenon that India accuses Pakistan of promoting - terrorism.

India's accusations against Pakistan are certainly not being put anywhere near the forefront of the discussions here. Any kind of a pointed reference to India's problems with Pakistan would have been counter-productive. The Turks are certainly aware of the background and reasons that are motivating India to engage with a wide range of countries on this subject.

But Turkey has no reason to be drawn into any statements aimed at putting Pakistan on the mat. Ideally, Turkey would perhaps have preferred that an engagement with India on political and security-related subjects take place in the context and against the backdrop of a wider and deeper economic relationship. Both sides do agree that the economic relations are far below the optimal level. But Turkey also apparently realises that the rallying of forces against global terrorism is not a step that can be put off indefinitely.

By identifying a phenomenon as the object of their cooperative endeavour, Turkey and India have got around the complications that would have been thrown up by the pinpointing of countries that allegedly promote this phenomenon. The focus is not on the forces or governments that indulge in or promote terrorism and their motivations for doing so. Instead, the focus is on what terrorism is, what it does and what should be done about it.

The phenomenon to be tackled is the tendency of some people in many parts of the world to make others concede their demands or accede to their point of view by threatening mayhem if the concessions are not made. These groups might or might not be linked to any government and they may have varying ideological leanings.

It is a matter of tackling minority groups, or even marginal groups, that seek to impose their will on global society at large. That being so, democracies have a special interest and onus to join together to fight this phenomenon. While the quality of democracy prevalent in India or Turkey can be questioned, it cannot be denied that both countries give importance to the will of the majority and the principle of change through peaceful means.

By avoiding an up front identification of the groups or governments that indulge in and promote terrorism, India and Turkey have by-passed a possible hurdle to their cooperation. But at the practical level, the names of those who perpetrate terrorism will be noted, their networks and associates tracked, their commitment levels assessed and their motivations delineated.

Any connection between terrorist groups and specific governments will eventually be exposed. Information on all these matters will be exchanged between the governments and agencies that are determined to tackle terrorism. These governments and agencies will also coordinate their actions.

Turkey is not a healthy place for fundamentalist religious groups, given the rigidly secular approach of the country's establishment. But international criminal networks, of the sort which often provide vital assistance to terrorist groups, are active in Turkey.

In obtaining Turkey's promise of cooperation in tackling international criminal groups and terrorist organisations, India has taken a step forward in its efforts to combat such groups.

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