A number of factors shape India’s approach to the Mediterranean: the India-Middle East Economic Corridor, the India-Israel-United Arab Emirates-United States (I2U2), partnership maritime security, China’s expanding strategic and geo-economic influence through the Belt and Road Initiative, and a desire to access European markets. Following the June 6-10, 2025, India-Pakistan conflict, however, Turkey shot to the forefront of considerations shaping India’s approach to the Mediterranean, especially given Turkey’s supply of weaponry to Pakistan.
Turkey is the key pillar of the growing anti-India Islamist alliance.
Turkey’s hostility is not a new phenomenon. Turkey consistently has supported Pakistan’s support for Kashmiri separatism. Under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s leadership, anti-India elements of Turkey’s foreign policy have gained new intensity. Turkey has become one of Pakistan’s most important defense suppliers, providing it with advanced drones such as the TB-2 Bayraktar, Akıncı, and 300-400 Turkish Asisguard Songar drones alongside naval assets.
Turkey is the key pillar of the growing anti-India Islamist alliance, including Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Qatar, and Malaysia. After the Pakistan-backed Islamists overthrew Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Turkey also has established a military presence in Bangladesh, raising concerns in Delhi.
Erdoğan pursues an Islamist agenda in India, seeking to subvert the country. His strategy includes the establishment of ties with Islamist groups like the Popular Front of India, and Kashmir-focused terrorist and Islamist organizations such as Jamaat-e-Islami. In addition, Ankara runs anti-India diplomatic campaigns in multilateral forums, engages in information wars via its state broadcaster Turkish Radio and Television (TRT World), launches soft-power initiatives to reach Bollywood stars, intellectuals, journalists, Islamic scholars, community leaders, and activists, and hosts radical extremists like Islamist orator Zakir Naik. Additionally, Turkey funds religious radicalization inside India, unsettling Indian intelligence officials even as the Indian politicians largely continue to ignore the Turkish efforts.
During the recent India-Pakistan conflict, Turkey engaged in aggressive propaganda against India and backed Pakistan’s narrative after the ceasefire. Following the Pahalgam terrorist attack, in which Pakistan-backed terrorists summarily executed 26 civilians in front of their families, Ankara sent a large amount of military equipment aboard six military aircraft. Although it officially denied this, global air surveillance systems tracked a C-130 aircraft from Turkey to Pakistan. Turkey also sent a high-ranking military delegation and the naval warship TCG-Bykada to Karachi, reportedly carrying drones.
A more robust strategy in the Eastern Mediterranean cannot be haphazard.
Following Operation Sindoor, India has awakened to the Turkish threat. It canceled Celebi’s $200 million contract and launched a boycott of Turkey’s products and tourism. This is not enough. Countering and containing Turkey should be a key part of Delhi’s strategy in the Mediterranean. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s June 15-16, 2025, visit to Cyprus, followed by a trip to Croatia, shows enthusiasm to build economic and strategic ties with the Eastern Mediterranean. India has strategic partnerships with Israel and France. Relations between India and Israel have improved dramatically under the Modi government, strengthening defense, technology, and counterterrorism cooperation. In 2023, India signed a strategic partnership agreement with Greece, which included a significant military component. These countries are democracies, face challenges from Islamic extremists with links to Turkey, Pakistan, and Azerbaijan, and have territorial and maritime disputes with Ankara. With an Islamist regime in Syria, Turkey is likely to develop closer ties with global terrorist groups involved in the war-torn country, posing a greater threat to India and Israel.
A more robust strategy in the Eastern Mediterranean cannot be haphazard. India should focus on military and intelligence elements in its Mediterranean outreach and bolster its diplomatic infrastructure in the region to counter Turkey and its allies Pakistan and Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, Israel, Cyprus, and Greece should seek additional opportunities for India’s involvement and initiate a proactive approach with India’s entry into the Israel-Greece-Cyprus trilateral (3+1) format.
