ISLAMABAD: After China and Russia now Turkey has also assured Pakistan offull support in the backdrop of the threatening tweet by the US PresidentDonald Trump.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has called the president of PakistanMamnoon Hussain and assured him of full support to Pakistan.

Earlier Director-General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) MajorGeneral Asif Ghafoor on Wednesday said no amount of coercion can dictatePakistan on how to continue.

In an interview with private news channel, DG ISPR said that no amount ofcoercion can dictate us how to continue. “We wish to move forward throughcooperative engagement but we will not compromise on self-respect anddignity.”

In response to a question regarding the anti-Pakistan statements from theUS and the country not willing to consider Pakistan as a friend and ally,Ghafoor said that Pakistan continues to consider the US an ally.

“As far as Pakistan is concerned, we consider them as allies. Ourrelationship has had its ups and downs but still, we are friends,” MajorGeneral Ghafoor said.

He added that Pakistan and the US have a history of cooperation.“We had a choice at one point of time when we could have opted for theUnion of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), but we preferred the USinstead,” he said.

Pakistan fought the war against terrorism and deployed its forces on theborder, said DG ISPR, adding that the Pakistani forces conducted operationsagainst the Haqqani network and in North Waziristan but the effects will bevisible in due course of time.

“Effects of these operations cannot be visible immediately,” he said. “Onlytime will show how effective these operations were [in establishing peacewithin the region].”

In regards to the double-game accusation, the military spokesperson saidthat the two countries are allies and Pakistan has supported the US.