India and Turkey Resume Talks After Kashmir Fallout
India invited Turkey to formal bilateral consultations in April 2026, ending nearly a year of frozen diplomatic relations that followed Ankara’s public support for Pakistan during last year’s India-Pakistan military confrontation over Kashmir. India and Turkey are going to have bilateral consultations. The 12th round of India-Turkey Foreign Office Consultations was held in New Delhi on April 8, co-chaired by Sibi George, Secretary (West) at India’s Ministry of External Affairs, and Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Berris Ekinci.
The meeting marked the first structured diplomatic engagement between the two countries since relations collapsed following India’s Operation Sindoor in May 2025, when New Delhi targeted facilities allegedly linked to militant groups in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. This meeting is a deal because it shows they are trying to talk things through again.
“We have decided to mend bilateral ties,” an Indian official told Middle East Eye. “We believe dialogue is better than not talking and deepening disagreements and misunderstandings. And the conversations have been satisfactory.”
Turkey sided openly with Pakistan after Operation Sindoor was launched in response to a militant attack in Kashmir that killed 26 civilians in April 2025. Indian media outlets portrayed Turkey as an enemy, accusing it of sending military hardware and reinforcements to Islamabad. middleeasteye
Turkish officials disputed those accounts. “Routine engagements such as port visits and cargo flights have been misconstrued as additional or new deliveries,” one Turkish official familiar with the matter told Middle East Eye. Ankara maintained that its long-standing defence partnership with Pakistan involved no new or additional assistance during the crisis. middleeasteye
The fallout moved beyond rhetoric. India revoked the security clearance of Turkish company Celebi Airport Services India, which had handled ground operations at nine airports including Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, citing national security concerns, according to Reuters. Air India announced plans to reduce its reliance on Turkish Technic for maintenance of its wide-body aircraft, the Times of India reported.
A public tourism boycott followed. The number of Indian tourists travelling to Turkey — a popular destination for weddings and honeymoons — fell from 330,000 to 250,000 in 2025, a drop of nearly 25 percent, according to Turkish culture ministry statistics. Bilateral trade declined from $9 billion to $7.5 billion during the same period, a fall of 16.7 percent, Turkish data showed.
Despite the pressure, Ankara chose restraint. “We decided not to respond in order to de-escalate the situation,” said the Turkish official. “Let it take its course, and then work from there.” middleeasteye
That posture — not retaliating against Indian parliamentary statements or government-imposed trade and aviation measures — was cited by Turkish officials as a key factor that created space for India to extend its April invitation.
Trade and Corridors
Trade, and India’s shifting calculations over regional connectivity, drove much of the reset. Despite the political rupture, commercial ties held up better than diplomatic ones. Turkey remains a significant trading partner for India, with Ankara importing $6 billion in goods from India in 2025 — mostly raw materials, intermediate products, textiles, chemicals, and automotive and machinery components, according to Middle East Eye.
Indian officials told Middle East Eye they are now exploring new connectivity options, including Turkey’s role in the Middle Corridor — a trade route linking East Asia to Europe through Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia. The shift comes as India’s preferred connectivity project faces serious obstacles.
India introduced the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) framework in 2023, routing trade by sea to the UAE before continuing overland through Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Israel. Turkey had opposed the project, viewing it as an attempt to bypass Ankara, and instead backed a rival Iraqi proposal. Since 2023, the IMEC project has been in jeopardy as UAE-Saudi relations have become strained, most recently over Yemen, and the anticipated normalisation deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia has stalled amid the war in Gaza, according to Middle East Eye.
The US-Israel war on Iran and the effective chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz since late February 2026 further complicated India’s single-corridor approach. Indian officials told Middle East Eye they do not want to depend on any one route.
Kashmir Remains Unresolved
One issue has not shifted. Turkey supports Pakistan’s position that India unjustly controls the Muslim-majority Kashmir region and that Kashmiris should be given the right to self-determination through a referendum — a position Ankara has repeated at international forums for years.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan omitted the Kashmir issue from his address to the UN General Assembly in September 2024, a gesture India noted. But following the 2025 crisis, the issue returned. At the 80th session of the UNGA, Erdogan said his country supports “the resolution of the Kashmir issue through dialogue, based on the United Nations Security Council resolutions and the expectations of our Kashmiri brothers and sisters,” according to Middle East Eye.
Indian officials have said that a more nuanced Turkish public position on Kashmir would further help solidify bilateral relations.
Background
India and Turkey have historically maintained cool political relations despite growing trade. Erdogan’s close ties with Pakistan and his backing for Muslim causes globally have sat uncomfortably alongside India’s deepening partnership with Israel and its hardline position on Kashmir. The two countries last held bilateral consultations at this level before the 2025 crisis, making the April 2026 round the 12th such session overall. Turkey and Pakistan have maintained a military partnership for decades, with the two governments describing one another as strategic allies. India-Turkey trade had been growing before the 2025 rupture, with New Delhi running a consistent surplus.
What Happens Next
Both sides are now evaluating options for higher-level visits, the Indian official told Middle East Eye. Indian officials expect tourism numbers to recover in 2026 following the easing of tensions. Indian officials are looking forward to seeing tourism numbers for India get back, to normal in 2026. Turkey’s role in the Middle Corridor is expected to feature in further economic discussions. The Kashmir question — Turkey’s public endorsement of Pakistani claims — remains the central unresolved issue in the relationship. No date for a follow-up ministerial or head-of-government meeting has been formally announced.
