The multi-day ATATURK-XII 2023 joint military training between Pakistan and Turkey concluded in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region.
In a statement, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the closing ceremony of the joint military exercise was held at Tarbela in the Swabi district.
The two-week-long joint military drills between Pakistan’s Special Service Group (SSG) and Turkish Special Forces aimed to boost mutual cooperation between the two armies, ISPR said.
Troops of both sides took part in techniques about Compound & Cave Clearance, Sniper Training, Improvised Explosives Devices (IED) handling, and Combat Medic training.
The ATATURK-XII 2023 was the 12th joint military drill in the Ataturk series as part of military cooperation between Islamabad and Ankara.
Opening ceremony of #Pakistan - #Turkiye Joint Exercise “ATTATURK-XII 2023" was held today at Tarbella. Troops from Turkish special force & Pakistan Special Service Group (#SSG) are participating in the two week long exercise#ATTATURKXII @OfficialDGISPR #PakistanArmy #IISPR
1/3 pic.twitter.com/3O7gCHV5ds— Pakistan Armed Forces News 🇵🇰 (@PakistanFauj) January 30, 2023
Although bilateral relations between Turkey and Pakistan have been strong, the recent introduction of Azerbaijan to this alliance in 2021 established the "Three Brothers" nexus.
It is recalled that in early 2021, the foreign ministers of the three countries swore to defend their respective interests in Cyprus, Nagorno-Karabakh and Jammu and Kashmir.
Turkey's founding father, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, was one of the consummators of the Greek, Armenian and Assyrian Genocide between 1913-1923, making the name of joint military exercise between Turkey and Pakistan all the more provocative.
The founding father of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, was himself was inspired by genocide-perpetrating Atatürk.
According to Jinnah's daughter Dina Wadia, he would talk so much about Atatürk at home that she started calling her father the "Grey Wolf", the name Harold Armstrong gave to his biography of Turkey's founding father.
Stanley Wolpert also mentions this fact in his biography of Jinnah that, writing that one time on vacation, Dina said to her father: “Come on, Grey Wolf, take me to a pantomime; after all, I am on my holidays.”
Jinnah also said that: “Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was the foremost figure in the Muslim East. In Iran and Afghanistan, in Egypt and, of course, in Turkey, he demonstrated to the consternation of the rest of the world that Muslim nations were coming into their own. In Kemal Atatürk, the Islamic world has lost a great hero.”
Jinnah considered Atatürk as “an inspiration” for Indian Muslims to carve out for themselves a country.
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