Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has already started feeling the heat of India’s wrath after the anti-India rhetoric mired with Pakistan’s line on Kashmir at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Last month he had launched a sudden and out of the blue diplomatic offensive against India during his UNGA speech. He raised the Kashmir issue in support of Pakistan’s attempts to internationalise India’s move of abrogating Article 370, even though it is India’s internal issue.
To show its displeasure India had raised a slew of economic hurdles against Turkey and now it seems like India is willing to bleed Turkey dry. India has issued an advisory to its citizens visiting Turkey, asking them to “exercise utmost caution” while visiting the Middle East country.
The Indian Embassy in Ankara, the capital of Turkey tweeted “Government of India has been receiving queries from Indian nationals on travelling to Turkey in view of the situation in the region. Although there have been no reports of untoward incidents in the country so far involving Indian nationals, travellers are requested to exercise utmost caution while travelling to Turkey,” Helpline numbers of the Indian Embassy and Consulate General of Istanbul have been mentioned for those requiring assistance whilst travelling to Turkey.
Travel Advisory@MEAIndia @DrSJaishankar @IndianAmbAnkara @CGI_Istanbul @IndianDiplomacy pic.twitter.com/AFkO6tJA0A
— India in Türkiye (@IndianEmbassyTR) October 22, 2019
The Turkish Tourism Board in India had revealed that between January to July this year, there had been a 56% increase in the number of Indian tourist arrivals in comparison to the same period last year, hosting 130,000 Indian visitors. Therefore, this move which subtly aims to stop the Indian tourists from visiting Turkey could hit the country really hard and make Erdogan wonder that he had unnecessarily riled up the Modi government.
Recently, PM Modi’s visit to Ankara which was planned in June last year was also shelved as a measure to show that India was not happy with Turkey’s diplomacy. The economic sanctions have become the “silver bullet” of Indian foreign policy and mainly Modi government now, as they are cheaper and more effective in compelling adversaries than traditional military power.
The Government of India has put on hold a USD 2.3 billion shipbuilding (Indian Navy) contract which was to be awarded to Turkish company. India has already taken action against Turkish defence company Anadolu Shipyard that builds support ships for the Indian Navy, barring it from the huge Indian defence market. In addition to Turkey’s open support for Pakistan, it appears Turkey is building ships for Pakistan’s navy as well. Media reports have quoted Indian defence ministry officials as saying that this made the Turkish firm a security threat. Turkey can be jolted severely as India remains its second-largest trading partner in the Asia Pacific, Several Turkish companies have been heavily involved in business in India including the Celebi Aviation Company which has bagged massive contracts to run India’s airports. Nonetheless, with recent developments, India has indicated that any agenda detrimental to India’s strategic and national interest will be met with swift and diligent diplomatic actions.