DeskReport
India has now severed ties with Turkish businesses and universities after a travel ban. The country boycotted Turkey for supporting Pakistan in the Indo-Pak war.
India on Thursday banned Turkish company Celebi from operating at its airports. Several Indian universities, including Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Millia Islamia, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, have suspended academic ties with Turkish educational institutions.
Turkish company Celebi used to operate ground services at major airports like Delhi-Mumbai. The company has been formally delisted as per the directives of the Union Civil Aviation Ministry citing national security concerns.
India’s Minister of State for Civil Aviation said in a post on social media, “In recent days, there have been requests from across the country to ban this company. Considering the seriousness of the matter and the call for protecting national interest, we have given importance to these requests. The Ministry of Civil Aviation has revoked the security clearance of the company concerned.”
Celebi, however, denied the allegations. A Bloomberg report said Celebi would take all “administrative and legal” steps to “clarify” the allegations and seek to overturn the order. The company called the revocation of the security clearance “unjust.”
In a statement to Bloomberg, Celebi said, “Our company and its subsidiaries are not responsible for any potential disruption, delay or negative impact on airport operations and civil aviation in India.”
Turkey and Azerbaijan sided with Pakistan last week when the India-Pakistan war broke out. Ankara warned of a “full-scale war” while Baku condemned the Delhi attack. The response has sparked widespread anger in India. Calls for a boycott against Turkey and Azerbaijan have been widely shared on social media, with senior political leaders also supporting the call.
The wave of boycotts has intensified after reports emerged that Pakistan was using Turkish drones against India.
“Every hard-working Indian who travels abroad as a tourist has realised today that they should not spend their hard-earned money on a country that supports our country’s enemies,” said Rajiv Chandrasekhar, a former Union minister and a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The boycott calls on social media have had an immediate impact. Indian travel sites have reported a sharp increase in cancellations to Turkey and Azerbaijan this week. A spokesperson for travel website MakeMyTrip said that travel bookings from India to Azerbaijan and Turkey fell by 60 percent last week and cancellation rates increased by 250 percent.
Rohit Khattar, director of a Delhi-based travel agency, said that tourists are already hesitant about traveling to Turkey. Many travelers are putting off traveling to Turkey due to fear of social media backlash or social retaliation.
According to government data, 330,100 Indians traveled to Turkey in 2024, while about 244,000 Indians traveled to Azerbaijan.
Turkey and Azerbaijan have become popular among Indian tourists after the pandemic. These destinations have become popular destinations for tourists because they are affordable, close and relatively low-cost. Traveling to these destinations has become easier in recent years due to direct flights by budget airlines.
