5 reasons why Turkey's Erdogan may be changing his tone on India

Since 2019, Recep Tayyip Erdogan barely skipped missing mentioning the issue of Kashmir during his annual address at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). It somewhat became a tradition for the Turkish President to speak more about the Indian region after Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the centre revoked abrogated Article 370, scrapping the special status that J&K had.

This year too Erdogan addressed the UNGA, he was among the leaders whose speech was waited for. The Turkish president did speak at the UN, but this time it was surprisingly unusual – there was no mention of Kashmir at all.

The mentioning of Kashmir in Erdogan’s UNGA address, in some form or another, since 2019 got common over the past few years.

In 2023, he called for a “just and lasting peace” in Kashmir through cooperation and dialogue between India and Pakistan.

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The Turkish leader echoed similar sentiments in 2022 and even regretted that “strong peace, and cooperation between India and Pakistan had still not yet been established, despite 75 years following their independence.”

A year before, in 2021, Erdogan called for the “resolution” of Kashmir through UN resolutions, something that he had said in 2020 as and 2019.

In fact, in 2019, the Turkish president was most vocal when he said that the Kashmir “dispute must be resolved through dialogue on the basis of justice and fairness, rather than conflict.”

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Turkey’s Erdogan changes tone, skips Kashmir mention at UN first time in years

Once, outside the UN, Erdogan even went on to say, “India right now has become a country where massacres are widespread. What massacres? Massacres of Muslims. By who? Hindus.”

At a joint session of Pakistan’s parliament on February 14, 2020, the Turkish president had said: “We have never forgotten and will never forget the help, which the Pakistani people extended, by sharing their own bread during our War of Independence. And now, Kashmir is and will be the same for us. It was Canakkale yesterday, and it is Kashmir today, [there is] no difference”.

The remarks of Erdogan were often viewed as unwarranted interference in India’s domestic affairs, which New Delhi consistently rejected strongly.

India reminded Turkey that, unlike Ankara, which invaded and occupied part of the sovereign nation of Cyprus in 1974, New Delhi has not taken any similar actions concerning Kashmir.

But, if not Kashmir, what was the focus issue of Erdogan’s speech at the UNGA in 2024.

His speech centred around the conflicts in Syria and the Gaza strip. Also, the Turkish leader used the platform to continue with his criticism of Israel and advocacy of the Palestinian cause.

Erdogan even criticised the UN for what he called turning Palestinian territory into the “world’s largest cemetery.”

But, is Erdogan changing his tone on India?

It seems yes, and there could be several reasons for this. Here’s a quick look at XXX reasons

1 - BRICS factor

Erdogan’s omission of Kashmir in his UNGA address comes as Turkey seeks to join the BRICS bloc which comprises of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

In his speech at the 79th UNGA session in New York, Erdogan said, “We maintain our will to develop our relations with Brics, which brings together emerging economies.”

If Turkey joins BRICS, it would be the first North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) member to be a part of the bloc.

Turkey has backing of both Russia and China for BRICS entry but it can only happen with consensus.

2 - Turkey wants full-fledge SCO membership

Turkey also aims to get a full-fledge membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and not just an observer.

Turkey’s anti-India posture may also get affected as India is also among nine permanent members of SCO.

3 - Indians Tourism & businesses

In Turkey, Indians are third-largest Asian tourists after China and Indonesia.

Also, Ankara has been witnessing a gradual expansion of Indian businesses.

Also Read: Turkey’s Erdogan changes tone, skips Kashmir mention at UN first time in years

4 - Relations with India-friendly nations

Turkey has been making efforts with countries including Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE and incidentally, India shares excellent relations with all these nations.

Turkey appears to have acknowledged this as it seems to work on strengthening its relationship with India.

5 - Turkey’s disenchantment with Pakistan

Turkey’s growing discontent with Pakistan is becoming increasingly evident, primarily driven by the rising number of illegal Pakistani immigrants.

This influx has become a significant point of friction in Ankara’s relationship with Islamabad. Reports indicate that many of these immigrants are failing to respect Turkish culture, especially when it comes to women.

Furthermore, intelligence findings suggest that illegal Pakistani immigrants have been involved in serious criminal activities, including gang violence, human and drug trafficking, and the ransom kidnapping of tourists in Turkey.

Turkey paid for Erdogan’s remarks on Kashmir 

In October 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi cancelled his planned visit to Turkey.

Also, a lucrative $2.3 billion naval deal between India and Turkey’s defence company was terminated. Not just this, New Delhi also cut its other defence exports to Turkey, including dual-use weaponry like explosives and detonators.

India also has reduced its imports from Turkey and had entered into a defence agreement with Armenia, Turkey’s traditional rival in the region.

With inputs from agencies.