India’s growing business and diplomatic ties with Turkey have come under strong criticism from national security experts and policy analysts. This is mainly because Turkey has been strengthening its defence relationship with Pakistan and regularly supports Pakistan’s stance on Kashmir.

The criticism became louder after a report showed that Turkish Airlines is getting major benefits from its codeshare deal with IndiGo, which is India’s largest airline. Under this long-standing partnership, the two airlines operate joint flights to more than 30 destinations across Europe and the US. However, as reported by the Economic Times, Turkish Airlines seems to be gaining an unfair advantage from this arrangement. The Observer Research Foundation Senior Fellow Sushant Sareen expressed his strong displeasure of India's continued collaboration with Turkey. "India is not a serious country. We feed snakes and then wonder why they bite us," he wrote while reacting to the report. "We reward our enemies and treat our friends shabbily. We delude ourselves that countries like Turkey will give up their hostility. They benefit from us and then stab us openly."

Rajeev Mantri, founder and managing director of Navam Capital, expressed concern about how the Indian government is handling national security compared to economic diplomacy. He pointed out that around three to four years ago, Turkey had openly stated that its Baykar attack drones would be sold to Pakistan, not India. "The same drones have also been sold to Bangladesh. What did India do? Permitted/encouraged its airlines to collaborate with Turkish Airlines, also launched Operation Dost to help Turkey after it was devastated by an earthquake. At the same time, Indian defence drone developers don't clear orders from our own armed forces. When they clear orders, payment is not released for months on end. Yes, India is not a serious country," he said, backing Sareen's stance. 

Under the codeshare agreement, travellers can book tickets with either airline and still fly to a wide range of shared destinations, including major U.S. cities like New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, and Atlanta. As of December 2024, IndiGo had similar partnerships with nine other international airlines. Tensions have risen after six Turkish military cargo planes reportedly landed in Pakistan last Sunday, carrying defence equipment. This happened just a few days after 26 civilians were killed in a terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, an act attributed to groups based in Pakistan.

Turkey has provided Pakistan with Bayraktar TB2 and Akinci drones, and both nations are jointly working on developing the KAAN fifth-generation fighter jet. During a visit to Pakistan in February 2025, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed support for Pakistan’s stance on Kashmir. He stated that the issue should be resolved in line with UN resolutions, through dialogue, and with consideration for the wishes of the Kashmiri people.

The Turkish shift has led to discussions in India about reconsidering its aviation and tourism connections. Vikram Chandra, journalist and founder of Editorji, raised a question about why Indians continue to use Istanbul as a transit hub to Europe. "I fail to understand why Indians travel to Europe via Istanbul! Along with China, Turkey is the one solid and constant supporter of Pakistan – and always has been. India should instead build relations with Turkey’s key regional rival Greece. It's strange that there are so many direct flights to Istanbul and none to Athens,” he wrote on X.

Going one step further, former Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal proposed flight suspensions, saying, "We can consider suspending our flights to Turkey and Turkish flights to India for the time being."