Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for a negotiated settlement of Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India, Radio Pakistan reported on Sunday.

In an interview to an Indian TV channel in Ankara ahead of his visit to India, Erdogan urged Pakistan and India to settle the Kashmir dispute “once and for all”.

Expressing concern at the continuing stand-off between India and Pakistan on Kashmir, he stated, “We should not allow more casualties to occur, and by strengthening multilateral dialogue, we can be involved, and through multilateral dialogue, I think we have to seek out ways to settle this question once and for all.”

“Relations between India and Pakistan, if we dig closer, dig deeper, I can confidently say that the relations between the two nations are improving on a daily basis, which makes me very happy,” Erdogan was quoted as saying by Indian media.

“But this Kashmir question, this question saddens us deeply. It upsets both the countries involved. And surmounting the Kashmiri challenge will contribute tremendously to global peace,” he added.

He also rejected any similarity between Kurdish rebels and Kashmiris.

Responding to a question about Turkey's move to block New Delhi’s admission to Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), Erdogan said Ankara has always been supportive of India’s entry into the group and also that of Pakistan in a similar way.

Erdogan's statement comes ahead of his scheduled two-day visit to India, where the Turkish president is expected to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.

The Turkish premier is expected to hold talks with Modi on key bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest.

The two leaders are also expected to discuss India's NSG membership bid and ways to further strengthen cooperation in counter-terrorism and trade. Turkey is a member of the NSG.