India-Turkey Relations Under Scrutiny: Will New Delhi Reconsider Its Stance?
New Delhi’s commercial and diplomatic ties with Turkey are now facing criticism, especially after Turkey deepened its defense partnership with Pakistan and repeatedly supported Islamabad’s stance on Kashmir.
Recently, an Economic Times report showed that Turkish Airlines is reaping huge benefits from its codeshare partnership with India’s largest airline IndiGo. Experts such as Sushant Sareen of the Observer Research Foundation criticized it saying “India is not a serious country”, saying that India gives rewards to its enemies and neglects its friends.
Minister Rajeev, founder of Navam Capital, also raised questions on India’s way of balancing economic diplomacy and national security. He highlighted that Turkey’s discarded drones were sold to Pakistan and Bangladesh, while India allowed its airlines to collaborate with Turkish Airlines. This is the same Turkey which joined hands with Pakistan in February 2025 and made controversial remarks on Kashmir.
Now there is talk of reconsidering aviation and tourism ties. Journalist Vikram Chandra asked Indians why do they choose Istanbul for Europe tour when Turkey is consistently a supporter of Pakistan? Former Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal went a step further and suggested suspending flights with Turkey.
The debate gained further momentum when reports emerged that Turkish military transport aircraft had landed in Pakistan and delivered defence cargo—all this after 26 civilians were killed in a terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, carried out by Pakistan-based terrorist groups.
The juxtaposition of Turkey’s defence cooperation with Pakistan and aviation agreements with India has raised the question—will India reconsider its foreign policy, or should these relations continue as they are?