ISLAMABAD: Addressing a press conference along with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani here on Tuesday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave a piece of advice to his hosts.

“If the rulers keep fighting with each other at the top, their people will get nothing but suffering,” Mr Erdogan said when asked to comment on the standoff between the Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-N.

He said he was meeting PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif later in the day when asked if his visit would help defuse the political crisis which engulfed the country after the Supreme Court’s decision against the prime minister.

“I hope to see peaceful co-existence and solidarity between Prime Minister Gilani and Mian Nawaz Sharif,” Mr Erdogan said.

He said he was encouraged to see both parties sharing treasury benches after the 2008 elections and wished the same for his own country where he was constantly facing an ever-critical opposition.

“All over the world, opposition parties criticise governments. But the criticism should be constructive and aimed at ensuring the collective well-being of their people.”

Mr Erdogan said: “Nobody will invest in an unstable country. No entrepreneur in the world will come to a country where he will fear losing his money. If a country wants economic growth and prosperity, it has to provide favourable conditions to investors.”

Mr Erdogan called for investments in Pakistan and Turkey. He expressed the hope that the volume of trade between the two countries would be enhanced from $1 billion to $2 billion.

He agreed that the US should apologise for the death of 24 soldiers in the Salala attack.

However, it was up to the US and Pakistan to resolve their disagreement through discussion and dialogue.

Prime Minister Gilani said his government was moving ahead on the issue of Nato supply lines on the basis of recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security.

He said Turkish President Abdullah Gul had endorsed Pakistan’s stand at the Nato summit in Chicago.

Mr Erdogan said his country would stay engaged in Afghanistan as long as the Afghan government wanted it.

In response to a public appeal by the Transplantation Society of Pakistan to release Prof Dr Mehmet Haberal who is currently serving time in a Turkish jail, Mr Erdogan said the law should be allowed to take its course. Dr Haberal is one of the founding members and regular visitors to the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation.

PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif paid a courtesy call on the Turkish prime minister in a hotel at the latter’s invitation. According to a press release, Mr Sharif recalled his visit to Turkey in October last year at Mr Erdogan’s invitation.

He praised the Turkish prime minister for introducing far-reaching reforms that had strengthened his country’s economy and democratic institutions.