India mends ties with Turkey after year of tension over Pakistan

India mends ties with Turkey after year of tension over Pakistan Ragip Soylu on Fri, 05/08/2026 - 12:19 As regional trade routes shift and the IMEC project faces uncertainty, India and Turkey are exploring a cautious diplomatic reset Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (right) pictured after the first session of the G20 Leaders' Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 18 November 2024 (Ludovic Marin/AFP) Off When an Ankara-based Turkish think tank hosted an India-Turkey conference for the first time last year, bringing together experts and officials of the two countries, the mood was optimistic. Both Turkish and Indian officials invoked history, recalling Indian support for the Turkish War of Independence and pointing to shared words in both languages, such as hava (air) and kısmet (fate). The conference aimed to kick-start stronger Turkish-Indian relations. As emerging economies and rising powers, the two countries had been expanding bilateral trade despite politically cool relations shaped by their respective leaders' positions. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s close ties with the Muslim world and Pakistan sat uneasily with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s deepening relations with Israel. The conference was reportedly such a success that, according to several sources, Pakistani officials were unhappy because they had not been consulted. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Then, within a few months, everything changed. An attack in Kashmir in April, in which 26 civilians were killed, triggered a war between Pakistan and India and forced Turkey to pick a side. As Ankara verbally backed Pakistan against India’s Operation Sindoor, which targeted facilities allegedly linked to the militant groups behind the attack in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, tensions began to rise in India. Indian media outlets started portraying Turkey as an enemy, accusing it of sending military hardware and reinforcements to Islamabad. Turkish officials maintain that they did not send any additional assistance to Pakistan, arguing that the long-standing defence ties between the two countries have been well documented. The two states have maintained a military partnership for decades and regard one another as strategic allies. “Routine engagements such as port visits and cargo flights have been misconstrued as additional or new deliveries,” one Turkish official familiar with the matter told Middle East Eye. Ankara called for a joint investigation to establish the facts surrounding the Kashmir attack, while also expressing solidarity with Pakistan. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 'Dialogue is better' As reports against Turkey mounted in the Indian media, a tourism boycott emerged and Turkish commercial interests came under pressure. India revoked the security clearance of Turkish company Celebi Airport Services India, which handled operations at nine airports, including Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, citing national security concerns. Air India then announced plans to reduce its reliance on Turkish Technic for maintenance of its wide-body aircraft. Relations between the two countries were effectively frozen for almost a year. Then, something shifted in India. Last month, India unexpectedly invited Turkey for the 12th round of bilateral consultations. Ankara dispatched Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Berris Ekinci, who co-chaired meetings with Sibi George, secretary (West) at India’s Ministry of External Affairs. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Turkish officials told MEE the meetings went very well, with both sides expressing an interest in maintaining healthy dialogue. “We have decided to mend bilateral ties,” one Indian official told MEE. “We believe dialogue is better than not talking and deepening disagreements and misunderstandings. And the conversations have been satisfactory.” The 12th round of India-Turkiye Foreign Office Consultations were held in New Delhi on 8 April 2026, co-chaired by Secretary (West) @AmbSibiGeorge and Ms. Berris Ekinci, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkiye. Both sides reviewed the full spectrum of bilateral relations… pic.twitter.com/7nRqnvnR6u — Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) April 8, 2026 One factor that helped pave the way for the consultations was Turkey’s decision last year not to respond to incendiary comments by Indian members of parliament or to the government's punitive measures against the aviation and tourism sectors. “We decided not to respond in order to de-escalate the situation,” said the Turkish official. “Let it take its course, and then work from there.” The number of Indian tourists travelling to Turkey, many for weddings and honeymoons, fell from 330,000 to 250,000 in 2025, a drop of nearly 25 percent caused by the tourism boycott, according to Turkish culture ministry statistics. However, Indian officials believe the figures will recover this year now that tensions have eased. Corridors and Kashmir Indian officials say that despite the diplomatic fallout, commercial ties remained relatively strong. Bilateral trade fell from $9bn to $7.5bn in 2025, a decrease of 16.7 percent, according to Turkish data. Trade still largely favours India, with Ankara importing $6bn worth of goods, mostly raw materials and intermediate products, including textiles, chemicals, as well as automotive and machinery components. Trade is seen as one reason India wants to repair ties. According to sources in Ankara, India also began exploring its options more seriously after the US-Israel war on Iran and the chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz since late February. In 2023, India introduced a framework for the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), which would run by sea to the United Arab Emirates before continuing overland through Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel. Ankara viewed the project as an attempt to sideline Turkey and instead backed a rival Iraqi proposal. How the war on Iran is rewriting regional trade routes Read More » Since 2023, the IMEC project has been in jeopardy as relations between the UAE and Saudi Arabia have become increasingly strained, most recently over Yemen last year. The much-anticipated normalisation deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia has also been frozen amid the war in Gaza and wider regional tensions. At the same time, Turkey has positioned itself as one of the anchors of the Middle Corridor, linking East Asia to Europe through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia. Indian officials told MEE they are interested in new connectivity projects, including the Middle Corridor, because they do not want to rely on a single corridor. One fundamental issue for India remains Kashmir. Turkey supports Pakistan’s position that India unjustly controls the Muslim-majority region and that Kashmiris should be given the right to determine their own future through a referendum. Although Turkey supports Pakistan on Kashmir at every international platform, Erdogan did not mention the issue in his address to the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in September 2024, a gesture towards India. However, the issue returned to his speech following last year’s crisis. “We support the resolution of the Kashmir issue through dialogue, based on the United Nations Security Council resolutions and the expectations of our Kashmiri brothers and sisters,” he said during the 80th session of the UNGA. Indian officials argue that if Turkey were to soften its public position on the issue and adopt a more nuanced, diplomatic approach, it could further help solidify relations. Both sides are now evaluating their options for conducting higher-level visits, the Indian official said. Kashmir Ankara News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0