M. M. ALAM

When Pakistan came into being Turkey was one of the first countries to recognize it. We provided a lot of help to settle the administration here, also at the military level.

Since I entered the Ministry this is my first posting as a Consul General. Normally we are abroad for four years but as Karachi is considered a ‘difficult’ post I could have asked for shifting after two years. Since I did not want to move, I will be staying here for more time.

Normally political relationship amid nations is based on interest but between Pakistan and Turkey it is like a dream!

When Turkey was invaded during First World War – by England, France, Italy and Greece – we were allied with Germans.

Muslims of Sub-Continent felt that we were the last Independent Muslim state. So they did not want us to lose the War.

They instigated Khilafat Movement to help us: even women sold their jewelry to send money to Turkey.  The funds thus raised were huge, it helped us resist and wage our Liberation War. 

Afterwards too, some of that amount stayed and as a result we have the country’s biggest private bank Türkiye iș Bankasi. I think the same Khilafat Movement led to the foundation of Pakistan.

I have noticed that we are both very emotional people and categorically declare other countries as friends or enemies. Because of Khilafat Movement an immense friendship grew amongst people of the two countries.

At Ankara I have worked for one year in the Cultural Department, then I wanted a change so shifted to the State Protocol Department where I worked for four years. I was in the organization that looks after not only the foreign visits of our President and Prime Minister but also Presidents and Prime Ministers visiting Turkey. It was quite hectic and every month I was travelling to two or three countries.

In 2010 when our President visited Islamabad and Lahore, I was incharge of the Lahore part. I really liked the friendly way Pakistani authorities were helping us. So when the time came to choose a place of posting I chose Karachi. It is a very good experience – we are very similar – it is like being in Turkey a little bit.

Pakistani people are very hospitable; sometimes I have to go to two or three events in the evening. Then people in Karachi also show a lot of respect for diplomats. Like all my predecessors I am also trying to continue their work.

My predecessor is a very good friend and thanks to him I inherited a long list of friends (including very influential ones) and I am trying to continue that set of relations he made.

You know our Prime Minister comes here very often so each 4-5 months I go to Islamabad to support the work of my Embassy. I have travelled out of Karachi without any concern regarding law and order. I have been to many places including Lahore, interior of Sindh: Mirpurkhas, Badin and Sehwan Sharif.

We are always there for each other whenever there is any disaster. When I joined this post after 2010 floods, there were still few jeeps and an ambulance here – our Ministry of Health had sent four ambulances for flood affectees. 

It was not just a symbolic help, after 2010 floods our PM ordered 8000 homes to be built all over Pakistan. These are not just high-rise buildings but are like little villas which we have constructed following the PDMA plans (so there is place to have animals, shopping centers, schools mosques, it is really a little city).

Whenever there is a natural disaster here I receive a lot of phone calls from Turkey from people who want to extend support. Sometimes the Pakistani authorities don’t need help, but I have hard time explaining that to the Turk people back home.

I was Consul General here during 2011 floods. At that time our Prime Minister had dispatched an airplane full of humanitarian aid and I went to Badin to see the region and distribute that.

Similarly, when we had the Cyprus problem we received help from Pakistan who again helped us during 1999 earthquake.

Likewise, Turkey came to your rescue in 2005 Kashmir earthquake and all the rebuilding works undertaken there have been completed.

I am very fond of culture so I am trying to organize a lot of activities here. I am lucky that advent of Turkish dramas took place during my tenure, although it has nothing to do with the Government.

It was an initiative taken by a private entrepreneur Faraz Ansari who owns Urdu 1. Observing how our dramas – dubbed in Arabic – were extremely famous in the Middle East, Faraz Ansari thought of dubbing them in Urdu.

So he went to Istanbul and bought the rights for those dramas. He made a team here, dubbed them in Urdu, started broadcasting and hit the jackpot!

And what I like is that viewers belonging to all sections of society watch our dramas – it is not that only lower level or higher level or educated or illiterate populace are watching, everybody is appreciating them. And Insha’Allah Pakistani dramas will be dubbed and aired in Turkey.

Turkey is the 6^th major economy in Europe and according to IMF it is 18^th in the world.

When I was born in 1960’s our per capita income was $1000 that is today over $12000. Until the 80s we had a very Classical Development Model which was Import Substitution (e.g.: Instead of importing cars we were trying to produce them locally).

But then in 1998 we had a military coup – like Pakistan we too had military interferences – but luckily they brought Halil Turgut Özal as incharge of economy (who became Prime Minister and later President of Turkey).

As PM Turgut Özal – a very wise man – transformed the country’s economy by paving the way for the privatization of many state enterprises. 

He  used to work in our Planning Department and knew how to reform the country:  He had put aside the Import Substitution Policy and introduced Export Driven Economy; lifted all the red tapes and most of the duties; simplified the legislature; opened lots of universities and made a lot of investment in the infrastructure (ports, roads, telephone…).

I remember in 70s when we had to call someone abroad, we used to call the center and used to wait for hours, but Turgut Özal brought phone even to the remotest villages.  

Yes it was because our President at that time could not get along with the PM – foreign investments were pulled back and we lost 30% of our GDP. In 2000 the current Government came to power (getting some 30% votes) led by very young and energetic people.

They carried out the reforms even better: Our wealth quadrupled from  $ 200 billion  to over $ 840 billion; airports have been made; lots of roads have become double; ports have been made; energy links with Central Asian countries have been established; there has been lots of investment in technology; many universities have been opened; high speed railroads have been laid.

I told you about reforms that we have implemented (and as your country is suffering from the similar problems we had in 1980s – a reminder from my childhood) our PM is ready to share that knowledge with you. If Pakistan is willing we can send experts to assist in carrying out economic reforms. 

I have worked in ‘difficult’ countries like Algeria and Libya; there was a huge Turkish economic presence. Our entrepreneurs are running businesses everywhere around the world including Somalia.

The law and order situation is not so critical for us and I was very surprised to see such a little number of Turkish entrepreneurs when I came to Pakistan. 

As you know the capital is very afraid of taking risks so more than law and order situation some examples I think were frightening the Turks from coming to Pakistan.

Turkish entrepreneurs often visit Pakistan. In Lahore there is a lot of movement. As you know our PM has very good relations with Mr. Shahbaz Sharif and Mr. Nawaz Sharif so I think we will see more talks and more investment coming here in the near future.

When I came here in 2011 we were heading for the goal of $2 billion bilateral trade: in 2011 it was over $1.87 billion; in 2012 $831 million and then year $ 723 million (with balance of trade tilting in favor of Pakistan by $ 437 million).

In fact Turkey had to take some protective measures by means of duties to safeguard its textile industry which being labor-intensive affected lots of families. 

I am very proud that Turkish-made Metro Bus in Lahore is a huge success. Lahore has an advantage as it has signed a sister city agreement with Istanbul in 1976.

People ask me why you are not bringing any investment in Sindh? The answer is that since capital is very afraid to come so you have to go to Turkey and grasp it: the Punjabi authorities went to Turkey and grabbed the investment.

I had been trying to make the (former) Chief Minister of Sindh visit Turkey; unfortunately, it was delayed twice due to the security situation here. I hope if the CM meets the authorities in Turkey we will be able to bring investment here. 

Mr. Shahbaz Sharif & Mr. Nawaz Sharif (besides President and PM) have been meeting Istanbul’s Mayor. (Local bodies are very important in Turkey; our PM too was formerly the Mayor of Istanbul with real powers).

As I’ve said we are similar, so I am sure they were talking about transport problems. Mayor of Istanbul was eager to support: Albarak, that was founded some six years ago, came to Lahore and managed to finish the project in the announced nine month period, and it proved to be viable for Rs. 20 fare.

Islamabad and Ankara too are sister cities.  Karachi does not have a sister agreement with any Turkish city but I am working on it.

I believe it is the idea of our President because he likes railroads a lot! When I was working at Protocol I have been to many openings of railroad links – for instance, between Georgia and Turkey.

The President favors railroad links because they are cheap and eco-friendly. If the rail link is established it will take only 10 days to reach Istanbul from Islamabad that is half the time it takes presently.  

The system works, test drives have been done, the only problem is the management because we have to have a company to manage that link. 

Then there are some deficiencies, like Pakistan lacks locomotives.  Turkish Federation of Chambers (TOBB – that is the incharge of this affair) will soon settle the management company issue.

As far as I know they will run the train twice a month for one year with half a million Euros subsidiary and then it will take up automatically as traders will prefer to send their goods by train.

My Ambassador is very keen and working hard so that the project is completed soon. The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) is also supporting it.

Turkish Airlines is expanding. Istanbul is a transit hub for 70 to 80 percent Pakistanis using Turkish Airlines as they mostly head towards UK or New York. Only 20-30 percent of the passengers go to Turkey.

In both countries our communities are very small. It was one of the other things that surprised me as I was expecting a lot of inter-marriages.

My Japanese colleague here told me that there were 300 Japanese married to Pakistanis, but despite so much similarity in our cultures we have just five ladies who are married to locals.

In all Pakistan we are less than 500: I noticed that because soon we will have our Presidential elections and with a population less than 500 we cannot have a ballot box.

Lots of Pakistanis are going to Turkey but it is very difficult to figure that out because they are not going through the Consulate here.

So many have dual citizenships and enter as British or American. Then we have provided new facility, you can have an electronic visa if you have a valid Schengen or US visa.

Though statistically I don’t know how many Pakistanis are going to Turkey but I can see the workload has increased a lot specially since the ‘dramas’. Habib Bank and other Pakistani organizations too have staff in Turkey.

Like our political relations our military ties too are like a dream.

Lots of Pakistani officers were educated in Turkey (especially Navy) and they have maintained those connections. For instance, in Ideas I could see local Generals and Admirals calling their Turkish counterparts by their first names (- Like Pakistan, in Turkey too retired Army personnel work for military industry). Our officers are attending academies here. 

I think we are producing F-16 in Turkey since 1990. Factory producing F-16s for our military is very near Ankara and when I joined the Ministry in 1991 we visited the factory and had three airplanes that were 100% without default (which is a very difficult target to reach).

For getting the building contract worth US$ 80 million we had to compete with the Chinese, Pakistan got it for a very good price. And the ship is interesting because before we were buying our frigates from US and Germany.

After we have started producing I think German frigates in Turkey and this ship is one hundred percent Turkish design. So we call it milldam which is national ship. You can carry huge amount of fuel, logistic equipments, has a hospital, a heliport and can accommodate hundreds of soldiers.

So it is a ship that will extend Pakistan Navy’s range of capabilities. Presently, your power is limited by the limited fuel your ship can take but with that ship you can go further. This 5-year project is going according to the schedule and will be completed in 2018.

I was born in Ankara and graduated from Ankara University in Economics – Faculty of Political Science.

My dad too graduated from the same faculty and served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs till 2003. 

Alhamdulillah he is alive and traveling a lot around the world. He has become a photographer and likes to show his work. His photographs were exhibited here in 2012 and since this is the Pakistan-Turkey Cultural Year,   Insha’Allahhe will come again in October to hold another exhibition in Karachi.

My mother also worked as a simultaneous translator for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They met and got married so I owe my life to the Ministry!

I have two siblings: little sister, who lives in Italy, is also a simultaneous translator; the smaller one is studying Economics in Italy.

I had been to seven schools before joining the University because I moved a lot with my father during his assignments abroad: lived in the US, Ghana and Marseilles – that’s where I have learnt French.

I started school in Ankara but after one year I continued in Marseille – I always studied in French School.

The system is that before your High School you can choose your subjects and I chose economics because I did not want to do comprehensive literature nor mathematics. Economics is half mathematics and half literature!

Since in Luxembourg there are no French schools we had to go to France to study. In their schools (I think) they teach four languages at the same time: French, German, English and their own native language.

As that was too complicated, I was going to France everyday to follow the normal curriculum – from schools to university.

When I graduated in 1991, Turkey was not as developed as it is today, so we did not have too many jobs.

I wanted to do something global and at that time not many companies were involved in international work. The only option for me was to seek employment in one of the couple of corporate companies operating in Turkey or join the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and I opted for the latter.

One has to take a 3-day exam for entering the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: you are asked to translate from French/English to Turkish and vice versa; and then you have to write essays in these 3 languages; if you manage to clear those tests you are interviewed, (during which your proficiency in International Laws, Economics, Turkish & World History is gauged); following a wait of one month successful candidates are inducted as junior career diplomats. 

I was sent to the Caucasian Affairs Department, Ankara, at a very exciting time: unfortunately, since the Nagorno Karabakh dispute was not settled, Azerbaijan and Armenia were at war.

I was working till nine or ten PM every day – it was a bit hectic but I learnt a lot. In 1994 I was posted at Tripoli for two years but I liked it and stayed for three instead. It is appealing also because we have a lot of Turkish businesses operating there. Back in 70’s Kaddafi invited Turkish companies to work in Libya and owing to that all the Turkish construction companies initially learnt the ropes.

Taking workers to Libya and putting them in camps was a difficult operation as (life) activities were very limited there. Working conditions were tough, psychologically it was not easy, but they got trained. And thanks to the Libyan experience, they are now able to work all over the world.

Pakistan also helped us a lot. Before that none of the Turkish companies were functioning abroad – then we had that Cyprus problem too. When I was posted in Libya there were still lots of Turks, lots of companies, so it was like we were always amongst Turks, it was very interesting!

Though I was a very junior diplomat, I met lots of very important people including CEO’s of the biggest companies there.

The Ministry was kind and sent me to the College of Europe in Bruges where I studied Economics for one year. (More than studies, the College of Europe was founded to improve the relations between the European countries and also to facilitate networking).  It was like a mini-Masters!

Economics was very hard; if I had known that I would have chosen Political Science. It was really very high level Economics so I call it a mini-Masters. I had to prepare a paper of 40 pages…but then thanks to that course, today I have friends from Italy, France, Portugal … who are easier to contact due to the advent of Facebook. 

When I go to Brussels I am able to meet them – so it is also a good networking college. I remained in Brussels for two years: one year doing Masters and one year in our delegation to the Western European Union.

At that time Turkey was in negotiations with Western European Union which is considered as the military wing of the European Union. The following two years I worked in NATO Department, Ankara.

I was a little bored with multi-lateral affairs, (even though some people consider it as high diplomacy,) I like bilateral affairs because as a person you can make a difference and you can have concrete results from your work.

So I was posted to Algeria and was very happy to go there. Again it was a hardship post where I was supposed to remain for two years but I got it extended to five years.

It was very busy economically – lots of Turkish investment – and then it was a French speaking country so I was able to follow what’s happening in France and the relations between Algeria and France. I was number two after the Ambassador but my title was 1^st Secretary.

When I meet Pakistanis, unfortunately I see them very pessimistic. But it is not my view:  Since I came to Karachi I see things getting better.

The first day I landed, Mehran Base was invaded by terrorists who destroyed two planes; 2011 summer was terrible; then read the stories of people who had been slaughtered and killed; indeed life is precious,  you cannot say before 20 people were being killed now it is only  5, but still the situation is improving.

We have less of power outages in the city (earlier it was very frequent); there are no more strikes…I don’t know if it is a criteria, but we have those shopping centers opening.  Like when I came here there was no Dolmen Mall, no Port Grand – I enjoy going there!

Scribe NewsPakistan.TV seen presenting Sindhi Ajrak and Taupi to Consul General of Turkey Murat Mustafa Onart here at CG’s Karachi residence.