There’s a danger now that India is re-hyphenating itself with Pakistan, in the context of New Delhi’s strained relations with Turkey
In the recent conflict between India and Pakistan, the two nations, China and the US, played their two-timing role along predictable lines. But the “joker in the pack” was Turkey.
Turkey’s support for Pakistan militarily during the four-day conflagration has triggered outrage among a section of Indians, echoing the government’s view. While the anger is predictable, calls to de-link India’s relationship with Turkey in toto border on jingoism.
Why spare China, US?
If Turkey, a member of the US-led military alliance NATO, is a culprit for having openly sided with Pakistan, wouldn’t the same logic apply to China and the US? For all practical purposes, China provides the spinal crutch for the Pakistani state, while the US support and relationship for decades has helped Islamabad stay afloat even in the most trying situations.
In a multi-nodal world, nations have a set of ideals in their foreign policy – whom to align with and whom to keep a distance from – but that is more often than not overshadowed by “realpolitik”, which dictates a practical approach to international relations.
Also read: Celebi denies link with Erdogan's daughter, reaffirms commitment to India's aviation sector
Optics vs practicality
In the case of Turkey, an extreme act of breaking ties does not make much of a difference, as New Delhi and Ankara have limited trade dealings and each is marginal to the other in the overall scheme of things.
But the issue is about India extrapolating Turkey’s backing for Pakistan and then making a serious policy decision based on that. India has for long tried its best to tell the world to de-hyphenate it from Pakistan. Isn’t there a danger now that New Delhi is re-hyphenating itself with Pakistan, in the context of its strained relations with Turkey?
Breaking relations with Ankara would amount to swatting a fly with a hammer. But the optics go well for New Delhi, which has attempted to put on a stern, zero-tolerant nationalist face after the Pahalgam killings.
Indians boycott Turkey
Already, responding to India’s official distaste over the Turkey-Pakistan waltz during the recent conflict, several universities have summarily cancelled their tie-ups with their Turkish counterparts. The security clearance of Turkey’s Celebi Aviation, which handles airport ground-handling in India, has been revoked. IndiGo Airlines is reportedly being pressured to snap its codeshare arrangement with Turkish Airlines.
Also read: Operation Sindoor: India revokes security clearance of Turkish firm Celebi at 9 airports
Indians will have to make do without Turkish marbles and apples, two of India's biggest imports in an overall trade of $2.84 billion. Around 60 per cent of Indians planning to visit Turkey have reportedly cancelled their trips.
India’s ‘Turkey-like’ trysts
Nations, including India, have varied, even contradictory, relationships with one another. It’s pretty much the norm in international politics. Take India’s position on the Ukraine-Russia war. The Narendra Modi government is engaging with both, but its relationship with Russia includes buying its oil. This is a cause for anger in Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has even publicly expressed his disappointment with the Indian position. But are Ukrainians demanding that ties with India be cut-off? So far, no.
Similarly, on the Israel-Palestinian issue, over the last three decades, India has moved closer to Israel and has developed a robust relationship with Tel Aviv. India imported Israeli non-military goods worth $2.34 billion in the first half of 2024 and plans to expand 10-fold over the next decade.
Also read: What Ukraine deal highlights: Saudi Arabia’s new image and Russia’s old grouse
India is among the top three importers of Israeli military equipment – 34 per cent of Israel’s total exports during 2020-2024 – some of which was used in the recent conflict with Pakistan. More importantly, India reportedly exported weaponry to Israel during the ongoing assault on Gaza, according to global media.
Conflicting relationships
While some nations in the Arab world and other Muslim countries may have softened their positions on Israel, there is still considerable animosity between them. But this has so far not translated into overt outrage over India’s relationship with Israel.
On the contrary, India’s relationship with nations like Saudi Arabia and the UAE is expanding. During the recent conflict, the Saudis were even perceived to have been maintaining some distance from Pakistan, their traditional ally. This means India is “having the cake and eating it too” – virtually having lunch with the Arabs and supping with Israel.
Also read: Op Sindoor: IAF took ‘23 mins’ to jam Pak’s China-made defence systems, complete mission
China, which has been unreservedly close to Pakistan for decades, is in dalliance with India too. The recent conflict situation may well have placed the Xi Jinping government in a serious dilemma – on the one hand, it would have had to back Islamabad, but on the other hand, not antagonise New Delhi. For India, China is the second-largest trading partner, with their bilateral trade worth $131.84 billion.
Tricky game of foreign policy
In short, foreign policy is not a zero-sum game. Nations will simultaneously have relations with others even if two of them are hostile to each other. Like Turkey, with Pakistan and India. In the past, in a world where nations were largely insulated from one another, it may have been possible to cut off ties with specific countries. But, in today’s scenario, it can still be done, but will not have the same impact.
The US, under Donald Trump, loudly proclaimed reciprocal tariffs against China. With Beijing retaliating by correspondingly increasing tariffs, Trump has climbed down from his high horse and has agreed to roll back the tariffs.
Also read: Turkish President Erdogan raises Kashmir issue in UNGA again
Turkey itself, incidentally, was for a long time the only Muslim-majority nation that had a close relationship with Israel since 1949. When the rest of the Arab and Muslim world was hostile to Israel, Turkey went about doing business with governments in Tel Aviv. Arab nations in the Middle East were angered with Turkey, but none snapped ties with it. No doubt, there were periods of highs and lows in Turkey-Israel relations, but they kept at it. Until November 2023, a month after Israel launched its assault on Gaza, when Turkey’s Erdogan government all but snapped ties with Tel Aviv.
Turkey under Erdogan
Post the First World War, and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey under Kemal Ataturk turned away from its Islamic legacy into a rigidly secular nation, fashioned along the West. That continued until the coming to power of the pro-Islamist Justice and Development Party, or the AKP, in 2002.
Since then, under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has gradually turned away from its strict secular polity and leaned towards Islamism. Described as an “Islamo-nationalist” grouping, the AKP under Erdogan has decisively recalibrated its relationships worldwide based on its religious-ideological moorings.
Also read: Turkey: How Erdogan held on to power, and what it means for Turkey's future
One corollary of this shift in Turkey is its closer relationship with Pakistan, an Islamic republic. Erdogan has also publicly positioned Turkey in favour of Islamabad’s position on Kashmir. Interestingly, the consolidation of Erdogan as Turkish president in 2014 coincides with the coming to power of the Hindutva-driven BJP in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
By all accounts, Turkey’s focus is not Pakistan-centric, but rather a part of Erdogan’s umbrella move to re-emerge as the leader of the Muslim world – in some ways a reassertion of its past when it was the capital of the Ottoman empire. One inadvertent but logical casualty has been the downslide in Turkey’s relations with India.
