India Insights: How India’s Netizens Are Punishing Turkey for Supporting Pakistan
onkarphoto/engin akyurt
Once hailed as a dreamy blend of East and West, Turkey is now caught in a geopolitical crosswind. Its recent show of support for Pakistan in the ongoing India-Pakistan diplomatic tussle has ignited a fierce backlash online, one that’s not just confined to angry tweets, but is now hitting where it hurts: Turkey’s billion-dollar tourism industry.
Turkey has often been vocal towards its support for Pakistan with regard to the ongoing Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan. However, it’s blatant act of sending weapons to its South Asian ally while the two neighbours were at the brink of war was seen as an unforgivable act of betrayal by Indian netizens around the world.
In 2023, over 270,000 Indian tourists visited Turkey, drawn by its surreal landscapes, historic cities, and cultural charm. But this year, the tide has turned. Travel agencies across India are reporting a noticeable spike in cancellations, with customers citing “political reasons” for pulling out. Social media platforms, meanwhile, are abuzz with boycott calls, travel warnings, and patriotic pledges.
What began as a foreign policy position has snowballed into a full-fledged digital boycott, marking yet another example of how geopolitics and consumer sentiment are colliding in the age of algorithmic outrage.
Diplomatic Backdrop: The Root of the Rift
Historically, Turkey’s closeness with Pakistan stems from shared strategic interests and deep-rooted cultural ties. In recent years, this alliance has strengthened through military cooperation, defence pacts, and public solidarity on international issues. For India, each reiteration of Turkey’s pro-Pakistan stance reinforces the image of a country choosing sides in a deeply personal and territorial conflict.
The latest flashpoint came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reiterated his country's “unwavering support” for Pakistan on the issue of Kashmir, calling it a "struggle of resistance" during a joint press conference with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif earlier this year. Erdoğan’s comments, made on international platforms including the United Nations General Assembly, have been a consistent feature of his foreign policy narrative, often portraying India’s actions in Jammu and Kashmir as a human rights concern.
This stance has not gone unnoticed by India. New Delhi, which considers Kashmir an internal matter, has responded with diplomatic pushback in the past, even cancelling a proposed Erdoğan visit in 2020. Despite warming ties in trade and defence with other Muslim-majority nations like the UAE and Saudi Arabia, Turkey’s refusal to recalibrate its rhetoric on Kashmir has kept it at arm’s length from India’s foreign policy calculus.
In many ways, Erdoğan’s vocal positioning has turned Turkey from a neutral travel destination into a perceived political actor, prompting Indian citizens to respond not just at the ballot box, but with their wallets and hashtags.
Digital Nationalism and Consumer Retaliation
In today’s India, patriotism isn't just worn on the sleeve, it’s tweeted, posted, hash tagged, and monetised. The backlash against Turkey is a textbook case of how digital nationalism transforms foreign policy anger into real-world economic retaliation, powered by influencers, algorithms, and community echo chambers.
Hashtags like #BoycottTurkey, #IndiaFirst, and #NoTurkeyTravel began trending on X (formerly Twitter), while Instagram influencers with massive followings publicly cancelled Turkish vacations, citing national pride. One popular YouTuber with over 1.5 million subscribers posted a vlog titled “Why I’m Not Going to Turkey Anymore”, arguing that “no amount of baklava is worth betraying Bharat (India).”
Reddit threads on r/India saw heated discussions with users urging others to “travel local” or choose geopolitically neutral countries. Meanwhile, travel forums like Tripoto and MakeMyTrip's user communities noted a visible uptick in posts asking for “Turkey alternatives” for honeymoons or family holidays.
This digitally-driven consumer backlash marks a new phase in India’s soft-power politics, where loyalty to the nation is no longer measured in protest marches, but inflight cancellations and unfollowed travel pages.
Economic Fallout: The Turkey Tourism Blow
The impact of India’s digital backlash has caused huge losses to the Turkish Tourism Industry. Once considered one of the fastest-growing outbound tourism markets for Turkey, Indian travellers are now cancelling trips en masse, and the numbers are staggering. In 2024, around 330,000 Indian tourists visited Turkey, spending an estimated $350–400 million across flights, hotels, restaurants, and retail. But by mid-2025, those figures had taken a sharp dive.
And it’s not just tourism. The boycott has triggered wider economic ripples. India has revoked security clearance for Çelebi Aviation, a Turkish ground-handling firm operating at several Indian airports, citing national security concerns. Meanwhile, Air India has reportedly lobbied against IndiGo’s aircraft lease agreement with Turkish Airlines, pointing to unfair advantages created by Turkish capacity in Indian airspace. Even non-tourism sectors are beginning to feel the squeeze, Indian importers have paused orders of Turkish marble and food products, and some educational exchange programmes are reportedly being “re-evaluated.”
Though Indian visitors account for a relatively small percentage of Turkey’s overall foreign arrivals, their high per-capita spending makes them disproportionately valuable. For the Turkish hospitality sector, especially luxury hotels, destination wedding planners, and local tour operators, the sudden pullout of Indian tourists has left a financial vacuum. Indian travel tends to spike during summer and festive seasons, and the current timing of the backlash has compounded the impact.
As the Turkish tourism industry grapples with a sudden decline in Indian arrivals, a larger question looms: is this boycott a fleeting response or the start of a more permanent shift in global travel behavior?
In the short term, Turkey may attempt to recalibrate its outreach to Indian travellers by offering discounts, increasing marketing, or softening diplomatic tones. But perception, once politicised, is hard to neutralise. Unless Ankara chooses to visibly distance itself from regional rivalries or adopt a more balanced diplomatic posture, the current sentiment in India is unlikely to dissipate quickly.
Beyond Turkey, this episode reflects a broader trend, a new normal where international tourism is no longer insulated from geopolitics. In the age of digital nationalism, destinations are increasingly judged not just by their beaches or monuments, but by their governments’ political alignments. It takes just one speech or a single hashtag to undo years of soft power cultivation.
In a world where geopolitical lines are increasingly blurred in consumer decisions, the personal is now political, and the passport is a tool of diplomacy.
