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xenon54 - Pakistanis love & admire Turkey for many...many things & why ? Because you are Turks !
Does it need an explanation beyond that ?
As for Secularism - Pakistanis don't support that ! We want a Pluralistic Society where if we want some Islamic Paradigm to be Institutionalized through the Democratic Process - We have that right ! But at the same time Non-Muslims & Secular Muslim Pakistanis enjoy the same rights & privileges & have the same obligations as every other Pakistani - A true, pluralistic Democracy in the purest sense of the word - No Secularism, No Islamism - No nothing of the sort !
That was exactly the dream that was dreamt by Pakistan's founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah & Pakistan's National Poet - Muhammad Iqbal - Both of whom were admirers & supporters of Turkey & Ataturk !
Unfortunately that dream got hijacked by the same Religious Clerics who opposed Pakistan's creation to begin with & then when the country was created they came here & after the death of Pakistan's founding father (a year after Pakistan's creation) they began their BSh*tting !
The reason I think we love each other is because, Indian Muslims (in British India when there wasn't a Pakistan or India), pressurized the Government that the only they'd be willing to join the British Indian Army & fight for the British Empire is if we are guaranteed that Turkey will not be harmed !
The British then reneged on that promise & when they were told about their previous promise, the British PM or Viceroy (I forget whom) replied that 'Germany has had justice...Austria had justice....terrible justice...why should Turkey be spared' & then they went on to butchering the entire Ottoman Empire into little bits & pieces till Ataturk stopped them at Gallipoli !
I've also heard numerous times that the Muslims from British India sent money & gold & sometimes even men to Turkey in her fight for Independence. In fact during the Khilafat (Caliphate) Movement most of the Indian Muslims (including some who went on to becoming some of the most ardent supporters of Pakistan) opposed the British so much that they threatened to migrate from British India to Muslim Lands as protest.
Many Indian Muslims followed their call, sold away everything & left for Afghanistan only to be told by the Afghans to foOk off ! They came back with nothing & were left with nowhere to go.
That was one of the reasons why Pakistan's founding father opposed the Khilafat Movement because it lacked foresight & unison & any plan whatsoever but the passion was there !
And then on the 14th of August, 1947 these Indian Muslims (around 70-80 million of a total 100 million Indian Muslims) created a separate country for themselves called Pakistan !
Thats why Pakistan & Turkey share such a strong bound - We stood for you, our ancestors (those 80 million) stood for you because you were Muslims & because it pained us to no end that the only Muslim Superpower in the world was back stabbed by Muslims (Arabs) & the Western Powers despite Britain agreeing not to harm Turkey !
My Grandpa was in the British Indian Army & he served in the Second World War in the Middle Eastern & Post-Rommel North African theater. He used to tell me that there were rumors in the British Indian Army that during the First World War many Muslim soldiers refused to fight against the Ottoman Empire - I dunno how true or otherwise it is but hey...he was in the British Indian Army.
But it could be true for after all on the call of Pakistan's founding father, about 300 or so Muslim soldiers in the British Indian Army posted in Indonesia sided with the Indonesian Resistance & fought against the Dutch to help win Indonesia's freedom ! The Indonesian even gave some of them Awards & even gave Pakistan's founding Father Muhammad Ali Jinnah their Highest Award for his call to the Muslim Soldiers to join Indonesia's War of Independence !
