Turkey and Pakistan enhance cooperation

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was received by his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani in an official ceremony in Islamabad and the two held a private talk. Moreover, the two leaders attended the second Turkey-Pakistan High-Level Cooperation Council meeting, where Turkey and Pakistan signed nine protocols and a joint declaration that aim to bring a new momentum to Turkish-Pakistani relations by enhancing cooperation in the fields of the economy, energy, transportation and tourism. Afterwards, Erdogan and Gilani held a press conference in Islamabad on Tuesday. In response to a question on his meeting with Pakistani main opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, Erdogan said that he wanted to understand Sharif's perspective. Erdogan said he wished to see cooperation between Sharif and Gilani for Pakistan's interest. "We should put the people first. The state is secondary. The purpose of the state is only to serve the people, and not anything else," Erdogan said.  Answering a question on when Turkish forces would leave Afghanistan, Erdogan said that NATO planned to complete its mission in Afghanistan by the end of 2014, but it was not definite. "As Turkey, we think of leaving Afghanistan after all countries left," Erdogan noted, adding that they will not leave their brothers alone there unless Afghanistan wanted Turkey to.