Making a statement on Kashmir or the India-Pakistan peace process appears to have become an indispensable part of the repertoire of any world leader who takes himself seriously. Not surprisingly, the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has joined Donald Trump, the president of the United States of America, in proffering his wisdom on the matter. That Mr Erdogan chose to make his statement - that Kashmir needs to be resolved through "multilateral dialogue" - on the eve of his visit to India is perhaps a barometer of his own stunted vision of the future of India-Turkey relations. It showed that no matter how friendly India appeared to be, the strongman in charge of Turkey had decided not to break away from his country's traditional position on its engagement in the Indian subcontinent. Having long ago aligned itself to Pakistan, and stayed that way under the secular army, Turkey, under the markedly Islamist rule of Mr Erdogan, has little reason to waver now. However, the warmth with which the Turkish president has been received in India also shows that his host country has factored in this unchanged attitude. It has been the policy of the Narendra Modi government to sidestep such road blocks in its bid to widen India's global reach. This is the reason why India has been able to advance its relations with Israel. This is also why India has been able to achieve a breakthrough of sorts in its relations with the Arab world. In fact, by agreeing with India to abhor terrorism in all its forms, many of the Arab nations have ended up indirectly condemning Pakistan - a position they may not have taken without India's prodding.

Turkey also fits into India's larger game-plan of enlarging the global consensus against terror. Given its own problems with terror - the result of the regional and internecine conflicts that Mr Erdogan conveniently chose to forget while lecturing on Kashmir - Turkey can hardly remain immune to the issue. Realpolitik works best when it is underpinned by economic linkages, and that is what India intends to promote while encouraging Turkey's partnership in infrastructure, information technology, space science and trade. With their potential for economic growth outstripping that of many European countries, India and Turkey would be foolish to allow anything other than pragmatism to influence their ties.