New Delhi: Weeks after Operation Sindoor, India has asked Turkey to “strongly urge” Pakistan to end its long-standing support for cross-border terrorism and dismantle the terror infrastructure operating from its territory.
“We expect Turkey to strongly urge Pakistan to end its support to cross-border terrorism and take credible and verifiable actions against the terror ecosystem it has harboured for decades,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a weekly press briefing in New Delhi Thursday.
“Relations are built on the basis of sensitivities to each other’s concerns,” he added.
The statement comes amid strained diplomatic relations between India and Turkey, worsened by Turkey’s support for Pakistan during Operation Sindoor.
A day after the start of Operation Sindoor, the Indian government had said at a press briefing that Pakistan used 300-400 Turkish drones to infiltrate Indian air space at 36 locations on the night of 8 May.
In a related development, India’s Bureau of Civil Aviation Security revoked the security clearance of Çelebi Aviation Pvt Ltd, a Turkish ground-handling services firm operating at nine Indian airports.
Responding to a query about this, Jaiswal confirmed that the matter had been discussed with the Turkish embassy in New Delhi. “I understand that this particular decision was taken by the Civil Aviation Security,” he said, without elaborating on the reasons for the revocation.
Turkey, China, and Azerbaijan had expressed solidarity with Pakistan in the midst of India-Pakistan tensions following the Pahalgam terror attack, signaling a tightening regional alliance.
Among them, Turkey has emerged as Islamabad’s most reliable strategic partner. Turkish-Pakistani defence ties now span air, naval, and cyber domains, with major joint projects including fighter jets, submarines, and drones.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)