Does Turkey’s Erdogan have links to Pakistani drones and Celebi aviation firm?

Over the past two weeks, India and Turkey’s ties have nosedived. Indian travellers have boycotted the country; traders are refusing business with their Turkish counterparts; universities are terminating their agreements with Turkish educational institutions.

All of this stems from Ankara’s support to Pakistan amid the military escalation — the Recep Tayyip Erdoğan-led nation provided drones and even helped in the misinformation campaign against India.

Amid this, on Thursday (May 15), India’s aviation security regulator Bureau of Civil Aviation Security revoked the security clearance of an Indian arm — Çelebi Airport Services India — of Turkey-headquartered airport ground handling major Çelebi Aviation Holding on grounds related to “national security” with immediate effect.

The revocation for Celebi came amid rumours that Erdogan’s daughter — Sumeyye Erdogan Bayraktar — is part owner of the parent company Çelebi Aviation Holding. Moreover, the drones used by Pakistan against India last week are made by Baykar, whose chairman is Erdogan’s son-in-law.

We examine if Turkish president Erdogan has a personal involvement in the India-Pakistan conflict.

Erdogan’s daughter a part-owner of Celebi Aviation?

On Thursday (May 15), Celebi Aviation India , a firm that has been handling the ground services for the last 15 years at Indian airports, found itself in trouble, as the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) revoked its security clearance.

“In the exercise of power conferred upon DG (Director General), BCAS, the security clearance in r/o Celebi Airport Services India Pvt Ltd is hereby revoked with immediate effect in the interest of National Security. This issues with the approval of DG, BCAS,” a BCAS order issued on Thursday stated. The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) said that the security clearance revocation also applies to Çelebi’s other associate companies.

“Union Minister of Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu has made it clear that nothing is above the security of our nation and our fellow citizens. National interest and public safety are paramount and non-negotiable. At the same time, the Ministry of Civil Aviation is fully committed to ensuring that passenger convenience, cargo operations, and service continuity remain unaffected. Arrangements have been made at all affected airports to ensure seamless handling of passengers and cargo,” MoCA said in a release, adding that the ministry is in active coordination with airport operators to smoothly manage the transition and efforts are being made to ensure that employees working with Çelebi are retained by other service providers.

For those unaware, Çelebi provides ground handling services to various international and domestic airlines operating out of nine airports — Mumbai, Delhi, Kochi, Kannur, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Goa (Mopa).

On its website, it states that the Indian operations span 58,000 flights and 5.4 lakh tonnes of cargo annually. Moreover, Celebi said it directly employs over 10,000 Indians and has contributed over $220 million in long-term infrastructure investments in India.

The revocation came amidst rumours that Erdogan’s younger daughter, Sumeyye Erdogan Bayraktar, is part-owner of the parent company in Turkey. Many users on X posted that the 39-year-old has a 10 per cent ownership of the firm.

What does Celebi say on the Erdogan links?

Following the news of Celebi’s contracts being terminated, Çelebi Aviation India put out a statement, calling claims linking it to Erdogan’s daughter as misleading.

In its statement, it said, “Çelebi Aviation India is a professionally governed, globally operated aviation services company. Today, it is majority-owned (65 per cent) by international institutional investors from across Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, and Western Europe. Actera Partners II LP, a Jersey-registered fund holds 50 per cent ownership in Çelebi Havacılık Holding AŞ. The remaining 15 per cent is held by Alpha Airport Services BV, a Dutch-registered entity.”

It said that claims of Erdogan’s daughter being involved in the company were false and misleading. “For the record and in line with complete transparency there is no one named Sumeyye owning any shareholding in the parent organisation. The Turkish shareholding is solely limited to members of the founding Çelebioğlu family; Mr Can Çelebioglu and Ms Canan Çelebioglu (each holding 17.5 per cent), nor any individuals with the same. The company was originally established in 1958 by their father as Turkey’s first private and independent ground handling company. Both siblings have no political affiliations or associations of any kind.”

How is Erdogan linked to drones used by Pakistan?

However, Erdogan’s ‘personal connection’ to the India-Pakistan tensions can also be linked to the drones Islamabad used against India.

Indian military officials have confirmed that Pakistan used Turkish-made drones on the nights of May 8 and 9 to rain down terror on the country. Indian Air Force’s Air Marshal AK Bharti in a press briefing on May 12 said that Islamabad had used Turkish drones, but these were thwarted by India’s air defence systems.

Officials stated that the drone attacks by Pakistan included the Byker Yiha III Kamikaze drones as well as the Songar armed drone system . However, there are also reports that Islamabad used the Bayraktar TB2 drones in their attacks against Indian civilian and military installations.

For those who don’t know, the Byker Yiha III Kamikaze drones and the Bayraktar TB2 drones are manufactured by Turkish aerospace group Baykar. Incidentally, Erdogan’s daughter, Sümeyye, is married to Selcuk Bayraktar — the chairman of the board and chief technology officer of the drone manufacturer. The two had married in 2016 in a grand ceremony, which was attended by political leaders, former prime ministers and presidents.

In fact, it is under Selcuk that Baykar has become a global leader in manufacturing and exporting of weapons. Some accounts suggest that Ozdemir, the founder of Baykar, decided to manufacture unmanned aerial vehicles along with his son Selcuk, who was then a PhD candidate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), studying these systems. In 2005, Selcuk took it upon himself to indigenously develop advanced drone technology.

And as they say, the rest is history.

With inputs from agencies