The recent visit by the President of Turkey, Tayyib Erdogan, to Pakistan is a notable event in the bilateral relationship of both countries. Although both countries claim their relations as historical and brotherly, the recent visit indicates the laying down of foundation of long term strategic and defense partnerships rather than mere diplomatic relations.

This visit and strengthening of ties have occurred in the backdrop of changing geopolitical landscape in the region of Asia-Pacific. Before visiting Pakistan, Turkish President also visited two Muslim countries of Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Malaysia. While the importance of both countries for Turkey may be greater than Pakistan economically, the strong strategic and defence ties with Islamabad is key to unlock the untapped economic potential of Asia-Pacific for Ankara.

Turkey gets a chance to pivot towards Asia-Pacific region and exploit the defence markets of middle and small power countries which are facing difficulty to hedge between Washington and Beijing

The burgeoning defence cooperation between both countries is one of the most promising areas of Turkish-Pakistani collaboration. Both countries have initiated dynamic cooperative defense production, technology sharing and high-profile military training exercises. The defense collaboration of both countries, particularly MILGEM-class warship that supports local companies in knowledge and expertise about the defence production, is a powerful example of bilateral cooperation aimed at enhancing indigenous defence capabilities.

It helps Pakistan in strengthening of its navy and diversification of its defence imports, while Turkey gets access to the defence market of the region and promotes its defence exports. Given the ongoing great power competition in the Asia-Pacific region realm between U.S. and China, Turkey gets a chance to pivot towards Asia-Pacific region and exploit the defence markets of middle and small power countries which are facing difficulty to hedge between Washington and Beijing.

Turkey-Pakistan economic relations apart from defense is also making steps to grow both nations on their wish to turn the bilateral trade in $5 billion annually. Both countries had signed Preferential Trade Agreement in 2022, which led to a substantial increase in trade up to $1.4 billion in 2024. The scope of this agreement has expanded by evolving it into a Free Trade Agreement, which aims for a better economic integration and strategic partnership.

The investments and collaborations in various sectors, including mining, investment, communication and technology, will therefore turn them economically more dependent on each other. The extensive geopolitics location of both countries with Pakistan being South Asia’s gate-way and Turkey—a bridge between Europe to Asia—is meant to be a huge boon in increasing international and economic trading routes. Therefore, it would provide better connectivity between the Middle East, Central Asia and the Asia Pacific region. A smooth integration in the economy will also open new avenues for the existing regional blocs like Regional Cooperation Development Organization.

The geopolitical importance of Pakistan and Turkey for being on one page on the issue of Palestinians in Gaza is considerable when one considers repositioning regional equations and the transformation of geo politics

The geopolitical importance of Pakistan and Turkey for being on one page on the issue of Palestinians in Gaza is considerable when one considers repositioning regional equations and the transformation of geo politics. Both of them are among strong critics of Israeli activity in Palestine. Turkey has been among the countries to raise the issue in United Nations and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). This collective stance against Israeli atrocities in Gaza finds its resonance with other Muslim countries like, Indonesia, Malaysia and Iran which share a similar stance on the issue.

Erdogan voiced similar position on Palestine in his discussion to his Indonesian counterpart, while he was on a 4 days’ visit to Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia. This strong sense of mutual stance on Palestine has made it difficult for the rest of the Muslim countries to pursue their normalization plans under the Abraham Accords, as Muslim states are likely to face wider domestic and international pushback against Tel Aviv.

Secondly, in addition to politics, Turkey and Pakistan have positioned Palestinians as yet another human rights issue and not a territorial conflict. This allows them to garner more support from other developing economies and the international civil society organizations calling for justice and decolonization amongst others. Taking the conversation as a whole, both countries give the impression of being key human rights and self-determination superpowers thus they are engraving their international impact with diplomatic credibility.

The burgeoning relationship between Turkey and Pakistan beyond the Israel-Palestine conflict is shaping regional dynamics in Asia-Pacific, outside of the Israel-Palestine conflict. With Pakistan so heavily aligned to China and Turkey still somewhat at odds with Western countries, the collaboration sends a clear enough signal that we in smaller states are going to go looking elsewhere for potential new partners in security and economics.

That may upset the power balance in the region in unintended ways. However, to actually pull this alliance off over the long haul will not be without challenges. Both nations still have a myriad of domestic problems to iron out and the external pressures from major world powers may just make it too complicated and hard to achieve. All of this is putting a potential for stumbling blocks in Pakistan-China relations and the Turkey’s relation with NATO, which is already going through tensions.

Whether it be the array of economic agreements and defense alliances or shared stance on international issues, their partnership presents an alternate template to the metastasizing power dynamics in the region

However, amidst the challenges around it, the evolving Turkey-Pakistan equation is a major game-changer in regional politics. It is going far beyond symbolic relations, with far reaching implications for Asia-Pacific. Whether it be the array of economic agreements and defense alliances or shared stance on international issues, their partnership presents an alternate template to the metastasizing power dynamics in the region. Based on their set to even closer ties, it is sure that they will play an important role in assessing the direction of Asia-Pacific future in a dynamic geopolitical environment.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. They do not represent the views, beliefs, or policies of the Stratheia.