Time to recalibrate ties with Turkey
Under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has aligned itself militarily and ideologically with India’s adversaries. What was once a partnership is now a cautionary tale of misplaced trust — and India is waking up to the betrayal
India has always extended a hand of friendship across continents, faiths, and ideologies. From standing by the Ottoman Empire during the Khilafat Movement to cooperating with modern Turkey in trade, technology, education and cultural exchanges, India believed in long-term goodwill. But today, it is betrayed by a country it once supported during its most critical moment in history.
Turkey, under the authoritarian leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has chosen to side with Pakistan not just diplomatically, but militarily, feeding New Delhi’s enemies with deadly drones and rhetoric, revealing Ankara’s dangerous ambitions to become the ideological capital of a pan-Islamist world order - even at the cost of peace in South Asia.
The most recent Indo-Pak tensions, especially after Pakistan’s proxy aggression in Kashmir and elsewhere, have seen Turkey abandon any pretence of neutrality. Turkish-made drones, notably the Bayraktar TB2 - manufactured by Baykar Technologies, whose CEO Selçuk Bayraktar is none other than Erdogan’s son-in-law - are now in Pakistan’s hands. These drones are not for humanitarian use or border surveillance.
They are war machines, tested in Libya, Syria, and Armenia, and now weaponized against Indian interests. It is no coincidence that the Pakistani military, flush with Chinese and now Turkish support, is emboldened in its provocative acts across the LoC. India is no longer watching silently. Turkish firms operating in India are now facing a quiet but firm rollback. The government is reportedly targeting those firms that have indirect connections with the Turkish ruling family. One such firm, closely linked to the Baykar CEO, had ongoing collaborations with Indian industries. But post the revelations about Ankara’s defence dealings with Islamabad, New Delhi is beginning to sever ties. This is not just about foreign policy; this is about national security.
The diplomatic frost has started touching academia as well. Several Indian universities, including Jamia Millia Islamia and Jawaharlal Nehru University, have now either cancelled or stalled their memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with Turkish educational institutions. What began as cultural and academic exchanges have now turned into cautionary tales of misplaced trust. It is becoming increasingly clear that Turkish academia, like many other arms of the state, is influenced - if not controlled - by the ideological machinery of Erdogan’s administration. India cannot afford to keep its windows open to propaganda disguised as intellectual cooperation. This betrayal stings more because of the historical goodwill India extended to Turkey. During the 1920s, when the Ottoman Caliphate was being dismantled by Western colonial powers, Indian Muslims - and Indian leaders - came forward in solidarity. The Khilafat Movement was supported not just by Indian Muslims, but also by Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian National Congress.
Indian freedom fighters, fighting their war against the British Raj, paused to lend moral and political support to a foreign empire, simply based on civilizational and religious empathy. And yet, a century later, the Turkish state pays back with hostility, aligning itself not with the world’s largest democracy, but with a failed terror-sponsoring regime in Islamabad.
The hypocrisy is complete when one looks at Erdo?an’s domestic policies. Once hailed as a reformer, Erdogan has now dismantled Turkish secularism, jailing dissidents, muzzling the media, and openly promoting an Islamist agenda.
The conversion of the Hagia Sophia, a UNESCO World Heritage site, from a museum back into a mosque was not merely a religious act - it was a political message to the world. It marked the triumph of a neo-Ottoman, pan-Islamist narrative over Turkey’s secular past. Erdogan is no longer content being the president of Turkey; he aspires to be the caliph of the Islamic world.
And for that, he sees India - a pluralistic, secular, majority Hindu nation - as an ideological rival. Turkey has repeatedly raised the Kashmir issue in the United Nations and other global forums, parroting Pakistan’s false narratives.
It has criticized India’s internal matters, including the abrogation of Article 370 and the Citizenship Amendment Act, conveniently ignoring its suppression of Kurdish identity, Armenian history, and democratic freedoms. Turkey’s silence on China’s atrocities against Uighur Muslims further exposes the selective outrage of its leadership. It has become clear that Erdogan’s Turkey is not defending Muslims; it is defending authoritarian alliances and petrodollar loyalties.
The Indian business community is also waking up. Traders in several states have begun quietly boycotting Turkish goods - from dry fruits and confectionery to Turkish apples and marble. India does not need Turkish imports when it has friendlier and more reliable partners elsewhere.
When Indian soldiers face Turkish drones in Kashmir, how can Indian citizens in good conscience buy Turkish dates for Ramadan? This is not a call for jingoism but for economic nationalism. A sovereign nation must ensure that its economy does not empower those who want to destabilize it. India is neither against Islam nor against Muslims. It remains home to the second-largest Muslim population in the world. But India cannot and will not tolerate foreign governments using religion as a tool of geopolitics against it.
Turkey’s ambitions to become the new head of the Islamic Ummah come with the price tag of instability and ideological confrontation. Erdogan has found common cause with Pakistan, Qatar, and certain radical outfits, hoping to revive a caliphate that the modern world has long buried.
Turkey’s betrayal is not just strategic, it is civilizational. It is a deliberate choice to side with India’s enemies and undermine a century-old bond.
India must now recalibrate its foreign policy with clarity and strength. We have friends in West Asia - the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt - who have shown greater pragmatism and respect. India must deepen ties with them while sending a clear message to Ankara: betrayal has consequences. In the years to come, Indian policymakers, industrialists, students, and common citizens must remember that partnerships must be rooted in mutual respect and shared values. Turkey under Erdogan has lost both. And until it regains them, India must look elsewhere - not back at a friendship that has been stabbed from behind.
The road from Khilafat to today’s crisis is a painful reminder that not all historic bonds endure - especially when one side uses them as tools of manipulation. For now, the sun sets on India-Turkey ties. Whether it rises again will depend on when, or if, Turkey chooses principles over politics.
(The writer is Professor Centre For South Asian Studies, School of International Studies and Social Science, Pondicherry Central University. Views are personal)
