India-Türkiye Relations: Testing India's Assertive Diplomacy and Soft Power Approach

Context:

In May of 2025, India's relations with Türkiye turned hostile in a sharp manner after the Türkiye’s involvement in providing drones and military operatives to Pakistan amid Pahalgam violence. This purported support to Pakistan's military attacks against India ignited widespread indignation among Indians, which was met by a series of actions by India's government, industries, academia, as well as the public. Türkiye has historically sided with Pakistan on ideology and geopolitics.

Ankara, since the Cold War times, regarded Islamabad as a strategic friend in the Islamic world. Their collaboration increased through channels such as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), under which Türkiye has always supported Pakistan's narrative of Kashmir. President Erdoğan's addresses to the UN and meetings of OIC, consistently referencing Kashmir as a Muslim-dominated region "beneath siege," have been interpreted by New Delhi as an intrusion into internal affairs in India.

One thing that puzzles many Indians is why Türkiye, a country India assisted at a time of disaster in the 2023 earthquake with immediate humanitarian support, persists in poking India in its most sensitive national concern. The key to it all is in Erdoğan's ideology, one aimed at projecting Türkiye as the moral and political leader of the Islamic world. Being pro-Pakistan serves his internal politics and also strengthens Türkiye's soft power among Muslim nations.

India’s Soft Power and Public Diplomacy on Türkiye’s Economy :

This Pro-Pakistani ideological interest of Türkiye, turned out to be a big economical downfall for the Turkish industries. India retaliated to Türkiye's post-Pahalgam posturing immediately with its soft power policies. The Ministry of Home Affairs cancelled the security clearance of Çelebi Aviation (A Turkish Aviation Company), which was functioning in nine major Indian airports, in the interest of "national security concerns." The action was disruptive to operations and threatened more than 3,700 jobs. Which demonstrated that New Delhi will no longer be inclined to let symbolic provocation go unpunished.

In addition, trade associations such as the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) organized boycotts of imports from Turkey, particularly fruits, carpets, and marble. Bollywood film producers purportedly dropped out of film shoots in Istanbul and Cappadocia due to public mood as well as national interest. MakeMyTrip as well as other travel websites reported a 60% decline in bookings as well as a 250% increase in cancellations to Türkiye in a matter of days since the conflict. The Retaliation wasn’t only limited to these but, In a major development, some Indian universities terminated academic collaborations with Turkish counterparts.

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay declared a complete cancellation of academic collaborations with Turkish universities in a step in support of national interests and matters of security. This was a part of a bigger trend, with Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Millia Islamia, Lovely Professional University, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, and Kanpur University also calling off their Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with Turkish counterparts. This indicates an increasing tendency to align international education partnerships with national diplomatic stances.

Overall, if we look at some facts and figures then the short-term economic consequences for Türkiye have been substantial:

● India's exports to Türkiye declined by ~22% in FY 2024-25 provisional figures (April-Feb) to $5.2 billion from $6.65 billion in comparison to a year earlier.

● Indian tourism, earning about $290–400 million a year, saw a near collapse as a result of cancellations and avoidance of travel because of sentiment.

● The stock of Turkish ground-handling company Çelebi Aviation was suspended from trading in Istanbul's stock exchange. The company's future looks uncertain in India, now, which happens to be among its biggest foreign markets. These moves, though civilian, delivered a powerful message: India can engage with economic as well as cultural clout to counter decisively short of resort to force. And this impact reveals that economic retaliation by India can have a concrete impact in another nation's business ecosystem even in the absence of sanctions or military intervention.

What distinguishes India's action is not only its assertiveness, but also the manner of doing so. India eschewed bombast or diplomatic brinkmanship. It employed so-called soft power instruments, trade, tourism, cinema, and diaspora connections to press its national concerns. This indicates a developing maturity in Indian foreign policy in which symbolic sovereignty and actual effects exist together.

Conclusion:

India's initiative to gradually cut connections economic as well as cultural to those countries which threaten its fundamental national integrity caters to its Vision 2047 to turn India into a developed, self-reliant, globally esteemed power in the 100th year of India's independence. Here, diplomacy involves not only bargaining, it involves strategic narration, worldwide collaborations, as well as economic clout. The Türkiye episode doesn't represent a standalone diplomatic skirmish, it's a symptom of a bigger transformation. India's no longer that diffident regional actor of a bygone era.

It's a newly confident, ascending power that demands reciprocity as much as mutual respect. Whether by Çelebi, Bollywood, commerce, or academia. India's signaled consistently that it can, and it will, deploy non-military assets as instruments of strategic pressure. As the world looks on, India's potential to turn soft power into hard effects without risking its international credibility could turn out to be its greatest diplomatic asset in the 21st century.Along the way, New Delhi has shown that in a globalized world, power isn't merely about militaries and missiles, it's as much about markets, media, and message. And India is mastering all three confidently.