United Nations: India has termed as "completely unacceptable" references to Jammu and Kashmir by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his address to the high-level debate at the UN General Assembly, saying Ankara should learn to respect the sovereignty of other nations and reflect on its own policies more deeply.

"We have seen remarks by President of Turkey on Indian UT (Union Territory) of Jammu & Kashmir. They constitute gross interference in India's internal affairs and are completely unacceptable. Turkey should learn to respect the sovereignty of other nations and reflect on its own policies more deeply," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti said in a tweet on Tuesday.

Erdogan, in his pre-recorded video statement to the General Debate at the 75th session of the UN General Assembly, made a reference to Jammu and Kashmir, saying the issue of Kashmir, "which is also key to the stability and peace of South Asia, is still a burning issue. Steps taken following the abolition of the special status of Jammu-Kashmir further complicated the problem."

He said that Turkey was in "favour of solving this issue through dialogue, within the framework of the United Nations resolutions and especially in line with the expectations of the people of Kashmir".

The Turkish President, a close ally of Pakistan, had last year also raised the issue of Kashmir in his address to the high-level General Debate in the General Assembly Hall.

India has rejected any third-party intervention in the Kashmir issue and has maintained that all outstanding matters in Indo-Pak ties should be resolved bilaterally.

 

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Moscow (PTI): The killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was a cynical violation of all norms of human morality and international law, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared in his message to his Tehranian counterpart, the Kremlin said Sunday.

Khamenei was killed in an airstrike in Tehran on Saturday during a joint Israel-US attack on Iran.

“Please accept my deepest condolences in connection with the assassination of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and members of his family, committed in a cynical violation of all norms of human morality and international law,” Putin said in his condolence message.

Putin's condolence message to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was published on the Kremlin portal.

Earlier on Saturday, Russia condemned the US-Israeli joint strikes on Iran qualifying it as an “unprovoked” aggression against a sovereign state in violation of international law and called for immediate return to diplomacy.

The Russian Foreign Ministry also described the US and Israeli forces' strikes against the Iranian territory as “a pre-planned” act of aggression against an independent UN member state.

Putin also conducted an emergency meeting of the National Security Council online on Saturday to discuss the emerging situation following the US-Israeli strikes and Iran’s retaliation.

Meanwhile, according to reports more than 2,00,000 Russians are stuck in the region due to closure of their airspaces by Iran and Gulf countries.

The situation in the Middle East and the airport closures have affected not only organised tourists from Russia registered with tour operators, but also those travelling on business trips and independently, state-run TASS news agency reported.

“Approximately 2,00,000 people are unable to leave the UAE or return from vacations in the Maldives and other countries,” Alexey Volkov, president of the National Union of Hospitality Industry, told TASS.

UAE and its airports have become a main hub of access to Russia since the Ukraine conflict and closure of EU air space for civilian air traffic under sanction on Moscow.

“The situation remains complex and unpredictable: drone and missile strikes have hit key tourist locations in the UAE, including its most famous hotels.

“And then there are those who aren't counted as tourists at all, but are travelling around the world for business—the Middle East, for example, is currently a major business hub, home to a significant amount of Russian capital, investment, and business,” Volkov said.