When Turkey’s foreign ministry publicly condemned India’s military strikes on Pakistan last May, the response was swift. But there were no diplomatic cables. No sanctions. No orders from the Indian government.
Instead, within 36 hours, Indian travel companies suspended bookings to Turkey and Azerbaijan, another country that had condemned the Indian strikes. A routine ground-handling agreement between Indian airports and Turkey’s Celebi Aviation was abruptly terminated.
The trending hashtags in India through mid-May 2025: #BoycottTurkey, #BoycottAzerbaijan, and #BoycottTurkeyAzerjbaijan.
Turkey’s tourism representatives were caught off-guard. “What happened was unexpected. This was not bilateral. It happened on social media,” a Turkey Tourism spokesperson told Skift. “From the government side, there was nothing, the [Turkish] embassy was working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, everything was going on track. But on social media, something els