‘Boycott Turkey’ campaign emerges in India over Turkish support for Pakistan 

NEW DELHI – There is a groundswell of public anger in India against Turkey over Ankara’s strong political and military support for Pakistan in the recent conflict between the two South Asian neighbours, which erupted following

a terror attack in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22

.

New Delhi blames Pakistan for the attack that left 26 civilians dead in Pahalgam – a charge Islamabad denies. India launched air strikes on alleged terror camps in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and Pakistan on May 7. Islamabad retaliated by deploying swarms of Turkish-made drones that crossed over into India, bringing into relief its close military relationship with Ankara.

Turkey, which has a Muslim-majority population and has in the past aligned more with Pakistan’s position on the Kashmir dispute, also offered its unambiguous political support for Pakistan this time. While it condemned the terrorist attack in Kashmir, Ankara said India’s retaliatory air strikes had raised “the risk of an all-out war”.

“We condemn such provocative steps as well as attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure,” it added, endorsing Pakistan’s call for an investigation into the April 22 incident.

India, however, has rebuffed any such calls, bringing up Pakistan’s past lack of cooperation in similar anti-terror investigations and describing its latest call as “stonewalling tactics”.

Angered by this recent Turkish support for Pakistan, a “Boycott Turkey” campaign has gained traction in India, where patriotic sentiments are running high in the wake of the conflict with Pakistan.

Indians have cancelled their holidays in Turkey and traders are not buying Turkish goods. On May 19, the All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation, whose members supply goods to around 13 million grocery stores across the country, announced an “indefinite and total boycott” of all Turkish-origin goods, including chocolates, biscuits and skincare products.

Even other countries such as Azerbaijan and Malaysia have found themselves caught in the cross hairs of Indians with similar calls for a travel boycott because of their support for Pakistan during the conflict.

Baku condemned India’s attacks against Pakistan, which it said had “killed and injured several civilians”. India has denied any civilian deaths from the attacks, maintaining that over 100 terrorists were killed in the air strikes.

Malaysia too supported Islamabad after the attack in Pahalgam, with its Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on May 5 expressing his “full understanding of the difficult circumstances Pakistan is facing”. He also affirmed Malaysia’s support for an “independent and transparent investigation” to identify those responsible for the April 22 incident.

China has also faced similar boycott calls in India in recent days, but at a much lower intensity than that directed against the Muslim-majority countries of Turkey and Azerbaijan. This is despite Beijing being Pakistan’s top defence partner and its jets and missiles having been deployed against India in the recent conflict.

Following the 2020 border clash with China, anti-Chinese boycott calls had also surged in India. However, bilateral trade between India and China has increased, given India’s dependence on key Chinese imports that drive its economic growth such as electronic and telecommunication items, organic chemicals and plastics.

In FY24, bilateral trade with China was valued at US$118.40 billion (S$153 billion), against US$113.83 billion in FY23.

Backlash against Turkey

Mr Rikant Pittie, chief executive and co-founder of EaseMyTrip, an Indian travel portal, told The Straits Times that cancellations of flight bookings to Turkey had surged by 22 per cent between May 10 and 13 on its platform. Flight cancellations for Azerbaijan rose by 30 per cent.

These cancellations followed a “travel advisory” from the firm on May 8 that urged its customers against non-essential travel to Turkey and Azerbaijan, a move it took fearing potential tension between India and these two countries.

Ixigo, another online travel portal, has even suspended flight and hotel bookings for Turkey and Azerbaijan amid a  “Nation First, Business Later” patriotism.

India’s traders said they will give up Turkish products such as apples and marble, and Indian e-commerce platforms such as Flipkart, Myntra and Ajio have halted sales of Turkish apparel brands.

Also affected are educational ties. At least five prominent universities in India have suspended their agreements for academic and research collaboration with Turkish educational institutions.

The Indian government has also made its displeasure known.

At a press conference on May 12, India’s military officials presented visual evidence of what it said was the wreckage of a Turkish-origin kamikaze drone shot down in an unnamed area by Indian forces, following which a Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson said India had “taken note” of such support for Pakistan.

The government also indefinitely deferred a May 15 ceremony at which the Turkish Ambassador-designate Ali Murat Ersoy was to present his Letter of Credence to India’s President. The Turkish embassy will continue to function.

India’s Bureau of Civil Aviation Security on May 15 revoked security clearance for Celebi Airport Services India, which is owned by Turkey-headquartered airport ground handling major Celebi Aviation Holding, because of “national security” concerns.

The firm offered its services at nine airports and employed several thousand Indian workers. Celebi, whose stock price has since crashed by nearly 20 per cent, has challenged the decision in court, saying the move to revoke its clearance by merely citing national security, without specific justification, was “vague” and “unsustainable in law”.

Mr Prakash Singh, a former chief of India’s Border Security Force, said Turkey’s political and defence support for Pakistan during the recent conflict indicates that Ankara considers Islamabad its friend.

“Now that being so, I think we need to redefine our relationship with Turkey... It can’t be one-way traffic,” he told ST, referring to the support India had extended Turkey following the devastating earthquake there in 2023.

One possible intervention he suggested is terminating business partnerships between Indian and Turkish airlines, a call that has been raised by many others.

IndiGo, India’s largest airline, has an extensive code-sharing deal with state-backed Turkish Airlines, which allows Indian passengers to travel to over 30 destinations across Europe from Istanbul. IndiGo has stood by its agreement.

Turkey a major arms exporter

Turkey has emerged as a major arms exporter in recent years, developing a strategic relationship with Pakistan, a key destination for its military exports.

According to a March 2025 report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Pakistan was the second-largest recipient of Turkish arms exports from 2020 to 2024, accounting for 10 per cent of the country’s total defence exports. The United Arab Emirates was the top buyer with an 18 per cent share.

In this five-year period, Turkey’s arms exports rose by 103 per cent compared to the period between 2015 and 2019. Its defence exports increased year on year to reach US$7.1 billion (S$9.2 billion) in 2024, up from US$1.9 billion a decade ago.

Ankara has also cultivated close political ties with Pakistan, which has the world’s second-biggest Muslim population after Indonesia, to further expand its influence in the Muslim world. It is a strategy that also ties in with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s desire to position himself as a “neo-Ottoman” caliph.

In this light, it is unlikely that Indian calls for a Turkish boycott would be effective in shifting Turkey’s policy towards Pakistan.

Professor Arshi Khan, an expert on Turkey at Aligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh, said the widespread public calls for Turkey’s boycott were an “immature and emotional reaction compared with India’s past track record of handling differences with Turkey diplomatically”.

Turkey’s close relationship with Pakistan does not mean it is against India, he told ST, underlining widespread appreciation for India among ordinary Turks.

“It is a different matter that Pakistan uses Turkish drones against India. That has to be dealt with by India diplomatically and by its technical teams, but certainly not this way,” added Prof Khan.