India Revokes Turkish Firm’s Clearance Amid Fallout Over Erdogan’s Backing of Pakistan

India has escalated its response to Turkey’s recent diplomatic support for Pakistan by revoking the security clearance of Turkish ground-handling company Celebi Aviation, citing national security concerns. The move comes amid a broader chill in India-Turkey relations following Ankara’s alignment with Islamabad during a recent military flare-up between India and Pakistan.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation announced on Thursday that the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) had withdrawn the clearance granted to Celebi Aviation and its affiliates for operations at Indian airports. Celebi had been authorized to operate as a ground-handling agency in November 2022. Union Civil Aviation Minister K. Ram Mohan Naidu underlined the seriousness of the decision, saying, “Nothing is above the security of our nation. National security and public safety are paramount and non-negotiable.”

The government said that alternative arrangements are being made to ensure the uninterrupted handling of passengers and cargo at airports previously served by Celebi.

In response, Celebi’s Indian subsidiary rejected the allegations, calling them “misleading and factually incorrect.” The company emphasized that its operations are regulated and audited by Indian authorities and that it is majority-owned by international investors, with no ownership ties to the Turkish government. It also denied widespread social media claims linking its parent company to a relative of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The diplomatic rift became more evident after a scheduled ceremony for newly appointed ambassadors, including Turkey’s envoy-designate Ali Ersoy, was unexpectedly postponed just hours before it was to take place at Rashtrapati Bhavan. While the Ministry of External Affairs cited “scheduling issues,” the abrupt nature of the delay has been widely interpreted as a symbolic snub to Turkey.

Although India has not formally protested Ankara’s actions, a pattern of official decisions has emerged. Three major central universities — Jamia Millia Islamia, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, and Jawaharlal Nehru University — have suspended their academic memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with Turkish institutions. Two of them specifically cited national security as the driving factor.

Public sentiment has also turned sharply. Travel platform MakeMyTrip reported a 60% drop in bookings to Turkey and Azerbaijan — another country that backed Pakistan — over the past week, accompanied by a 250% spike in cancellations.

Meanwhile, TRT World, Turkey’s state-run broadcaster, briefly had its account on platform X (formerly Twitter) withheld in India on Wednesday, although access was later restored.

These developments followed Erdogan’s call to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on May 8, the day after India carried out missile strikes targeting terror infrastructure across the Line of Control. During the call, Erdogan expressed condolences for the Pakistanis killed in the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack and praised Islamabad’s “calm and restrained” response. He supported Pakistan’s call for an international investigation into the attack — a move India sees as an attempt to internationalize a bilateral issue.

The episode has revived long-standing tensions over Turkey’s position on Kashmir. Erdogan has repeatedly criticized India’s revocation of Article 370, calling it detrimental to the rights of Kashmiris in speeches at the United Nations and in Pakistan’s parliament. India has consistently maintained that Kashmir is an internal matter and that dialogue with Pakistan must remain bilateral, in line with the 1972 Simla Agreement.

Although Erdogan refrained from raising the Kashmir issue during the 2024 UN General Assembly — a departure from previous years — the recent turn of events suggests that diplomatic friction remains.

With bilateral relations under strain, India’s latest actions signal a clear warning to Ankara over its engagement with Islamabad.