On January 9, 2025, Turkish naval vessels and helicopters participated in the "Blue Homeland 2025" military exercise in the Aegean Sea (Reuters)
"Our integrated air defense system is like a solid defensive wall that Pakistanis cannot break through. Neither Turkish drones nor other drones can counter India's technology."
Awarded Bhati, former director of aerial operations for the Indian Army, made these comments on the performance of India's air defense forces during the May confrontation with Pakistan. According to official Indian sources, India could have simply declared its air defense system successful without providing details. However, publicly claiming that Turkish drones were intercepted in Kashmir coincided with an increasingly tense situation between India and Turkey due to the Turkish-Pakistani military partnership, which has been exposed in recent conflicts.
After a brief conflict between India and Pakistan, India banned the X account of Turkish TV station TRT World and suspended the agreement with Çelebi Airlines, which operates in nine Indian airports, causing its stock price to drop by 20%. In academic circles, Indian universities suspended previous cooperation agreements with Turkish universities, including Jawaharlal Nehru University and Jamia Millia Islamia.
The tension was not limited to the official and institutional level, but also spread to the commercial and civilian levels. Indian citizens launched a campaign to boycott Turkish products, coordinated by active Indian nationalist movements within society. The All India Consumer Distributors' Association (AICDEA) announced a "comprehensive, indefinite boycott" of Turkish imports, supplying these products to over ten million stores, worth approximately $250 million.
At the same time, social media in India was flooded with the hashtag, while e-commerce company Flipkart announced a boycott of major Turkish brands such as LC Waikiki, Mavi, and Trendyol. On the streets, Indian protesters supporting the military held banners with the flags of China, Pakistan, and Turkey, calling for a boycott of these three countries.
However, the tensions between Turkey and India are not solely due to the recent war, nor have they emerged overnight; signs of this have been visible for years, when Turkey increasingly supported Pakistan on the Kashmir issue and launched a sharp diplomatic offensive after India revoked the special constitutional status of the Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir state, which had previously favored Muslims and prohibited non-Muslim Indians from owning land. This decision was taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist party in 2019 – ironically, the same year Turkey launched its new strategy for Asia.
"New Asia" Strategy
On August 5, 2019, Turkey launched what it called the "New Asia" vision, which stipulated that Turkey needed an effective military, diplomatic, and commercial presence in Asia, going beyond its traditional areas of interest, which were limited to Central Asian Turkic states, historical alliances with Pakistan, and good cultural relations with Malaysia and Indonesia.
At the time, Turkey was experiencing tensions with the West and was eager to open up new alliance windows outside NATO, similar to its rapprochement with Russia.
Additionally, Turkey's trade balance with China and India leaned toward these two Asian powers. Therefore, the Turkish government sought to enhance its commercial influence, creating opportunities for Turkish companies to do business in major Asian countries, and increasing its exports there.
But what was particularly notable was the military presence through arms deals and naval activities, especially in the Horn of Africa - an important gateway to Asia and the Indian Ocean. Somalia was one of the first countries to establish a military base and clearly demonstrate Turkey's presence. The "Türksom" military base established in Mogadishu since 2017 is the largest foreign military base of Turkey.
According to an agreement signed in February 2024, Turkey will receive 30% of Somalia's exclusive economic zone revenue, in exchange for which Turkey will be responsible for rebuilding and equipping the Somali navy and training Somali officers. Considering that Somalia suffers losses of $500 million annually due to illegal fishing activities, this fee is not high for Somalia.
Several months later, in September 2024, it was reported that Turkey was negotiating with Somalia to establish a ballistic missile and space missile test range, as Somalia's location near the equator makes it ideal for such launches. Under the leadership of Roketsan, Turkey established a missile project, and three years ago, Erdogan had announced the production of the domestically developed "Storm" missile, which has a range of 560 km, twice the range of Turkey's previous missiles.
In April 2025, the two countries signed an agreement on oil and gas exploration along the Somali coast, granting Turkey special benefits, most notably that Turkey would have the right to extract 90% of the annual oil production and receive profits sufficient to cover the costs of extraction before profit distribution. Moreover, Turkey would have the right to directly sell its share of the oil to the global market without additional costs for the Somali government.
Last summer, Turkish defense companies also entered Kenya, signing an agreement to export Bayraktar drones to Nairobi and train Kenyan officers to operate the drones. These drones have already been used in Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Sudan. Notably, these drones have played a role in tracking Al-Shabaab within Somalia during the Somali military's operations against Al-Shabaab.
On November 11, 2022, ships docked at the main national container port in Somalia operated by a Turkish company (Getty Images)
Deep in the Indian Ocean
Meanwhile, Turkey's military and industrial footprint in the Indian Ocean continues to expand. In 2024, the Maldives signed a contract for six Turkish drones and received the Turkish warship "Kinali Ada," at a time when India-Maldives relations were tense under President Muhammad Muizz's leadership.
Earlier this year, Turkey sent a renovated Turkish fleet "Vulkan" landing craft to the Maldives. Considering this small island nation's relatively closed nature and lack of direct opponents, this move surprised some observers.
In Sri Lanka, Ankara has been working on the country's naval modernization since 2021, a country located in southern India and closely related to China. In Pakistan and Bangladesh, Ankara has become the second-largest arms supplier after China. Turkish-Pakistani naval cooperation began with the "MILGAM" frigate construction project launched in 2018. This project has led to joint production of four frigates, with two in Karachi, and an agreement to transfer technology to Pakistan. The frigates "Babur" and "Badr" have already been commissioned, while the Pakistani military expects the remaining two "Khyber" and "Tariq" to be delivered by the end of 2025.
In fact, nearly a decade ago, India itself was a target of Turkish defense exports, when India signed a $2 billion contract with Anadolu Corporation to provide shipbuilding services for the Indian Navy. However, Turkey's close relationship with Pakistan prompted India to cancel the agreement. Tarun Kalsi, a former member of India's National Security Council, told DW: "The Indian government canceled the contract with Anadolu on the grounds of its policy to strengthen domestic shipbuilding capabilities, but it is well known that India's dissatisfaction with Turkey's relationship with Pakistan played a decisive role in canceling the agreement."
After the cancellation of the agreement, Turkey decided to stop all military exports to India. The bilateral relations then cooled down, and the accumulated tensions continued for several years until the recent short-lived India-Pakistan war became clear. Turkey issued a statement condemning India's military action, which differs from the balanced diplomatic statements made by most Islamic countries calling for calm. India then mobilized grassroots Indian nationalist movements to target Turkey, harming its interests.
Turkey's role in that war was not limited to issuing condemnatory statements. Pakistan also used Turkish weapon systems. Indian news sources such as "India Today" pointed out that Ankara provided direct support to Pakistan during the war, with a C-130 military transport plane landing at Karachi Airport and a "Ada"-class frigate moored at Karachi Port.
Turkish officials who advocate the Eurasian vision believe that aligning with China is the best choice for Turkey in Asia; however, conservative and traditionalists argue that Ankara must consider the sensitivity of its NATO position and the priorities of the US and Europe in the region. Meanwhile, India has begun to respond to Turkey's strategy in Asia and has established strong military and political ties with Turkey's rivals, especially Armenia, Greece, Cyprus, and Israel.
Turkey Withdraws from the Mediterranean
The Turkish Navy plays a key role in consolidating its position in Asia and the Indian Ocean. Although claims about the strength of the Turkish Navy seem to have long existed, especially many observers believe their roots lie in the Ottoman Navy, the Ottoman Navy suffered a disastrous defeat in World War I, leaving the newly born republic almost unable to develop. Therefore, the Turkish War of Independence was mainly a mass mobilization movement aimed at expanding its control over Anatolia, lacking the capability to conduct a true naval battle. As a result, Turkey failed to successfully reclaim most of the islands now scattered in the Aegean Sea, which have remained under Greek control ever since.
The small navy that emerged after the Turkish War of Independence, primarily equipped with weapons for deterrence and coastal defense such as mines and torpedoes, rather than for large-scale naval operations, is not surprising. Therefore, Turkey's old ships remain stationed in the Marmara Sea and the Anatolian coast. After joining NATO in the 1950s, Ankara relied on NATO and believed its importance required balancing the interests of Turkey and Greece.
However, by the 1960s, Greece began receiving more support than Turkey. With the escalation of the situation in Cyprus between Turkey and Greece, the US ignored Ankara's request for protection of Turkey, even sending a famous warning from President Johnson not to launch a military operation on the island. This led to a shift in the perception of the military institutions regarding Turkey's security and its role in the Mediterranean. Thus, the initiative "National Production of What Others Cannot Give" began purchasing advanced warships and acquiring the ability to project power in the Mediterranean. Between 1963 and 1973, the number of warships in the Turkish Navy increased from zero amphibious landing ships to more than fifty, and assault boats increased from zero to more than ten.
This prosperity marked the true beginning of the influence of the Turkish Navy, paving the way for the military operation in northern Cyprus in 1974. Until the end of the Cold War, Turkey maintained a naval balance with Greece and had a strong presence in the Mediterranean region. In the 1990s, Turkey began to look overseas and launched the "Towards the Open Seas" strategy in 1997. This strategy determined that the Turkish Navy needed to transition from a force capable of controlling the coast to a "blue water" navy, i.e., a navy capable of controlling the deep sea far from Turkish coasts.
Turkey map (Al Jazeera)
Therefore, the Turkish military industry experienced a new boom at the turn of the millennium, with its ripple effects still reaching the vast periphery of Turkey from the Black Sea to the Indian Ocean. At the same time, Turkey focused on developing frigates and submarines and published a document in 2000 outlining its ambitions to participate in military operations far from Turkey, which is completely different from the conservative military theory that dominated Turkey throughout the twentieth century.
Between 2007 and 2023, the number of Chinese-made warships in the Turkish fleet doubled, from 11 to 54. Over the years, the Turkish Maritime Task Group (TMTG) was established, and currently, the group regularly conducts naval movements in multiple seas to train and test the capabilities of the Turkish military.
For example, the first mission started from the Mediterranean, passing through nine countries. The second mission started in 2011, lasting 70 days, passing through the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Indian Ocean, and the Arabian Sea. In 2014, the mission took place in Africa, sailing along its entire coastline and then returning via the Cape of Good Hope.
Over the years, the Turkish Navy's actions have been characterized by training and neutrality, but they began to show results with the establishment of a Turkish naval base in Somalia and the Tripoli operation in 2020 (Turkey's intervention to protect the Libyan capital government). Since then, Turkey has established a small military presence and reappeared in a task force exercise off the western coast of Libya in 2024.
In 2009, the Turkish Navy entered the Indian Ocean for the first time in the Republic's history, conducting a series of exercises in the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea and participating in anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia.
Since then, Turkey's interest in strengthening its presence in the region has grown, both to ensure the safety of growing trade routes with Asia and to enhance its non-NATO allies, such as Pakistan. In recent years, this policy has reached its peak, with Turkish warships stationed in Karachi, Colombo, the capital of the Maldives, Malacca Port in Malaysia, and soon to be stationed in Jakarta, Indonesia. Previously, Turkey announced in early July a deal with a Turkish defense company for the development of frigates.
As the Turkish Navy's influence quietly expands in the Indian Ocean, it brings good news for its allies, most notably Pakistan; Bangladesh, which recently experienced a revolution that overthrew a pro-Indian regime; and Indonesia – the third-largest country in Asia after China and India, which is seeking to establish its strategic independence among the great powers. So far, only Delhi has been harmed by Turkey's presence, trying to surpass Ankara and weaken its position in the "blue waters".
Sources: Al Jazeera + Electronic Website
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7534710428048327219/
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