Recep Tayyip Erdoğan shall remain the President of Turkey for another five years, as he registered a victory in the recently-held Presidential Polls. While Erdoğan bagged 52.2% of votes, his nearest rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu received 47.8%. Later, Kilicdaroglu said that it was “the most unfair election in years“. With this victory, Erdoğan has got an opportunity to rule the country for three consecutive decades.

As far as international politics is concerned, the re-election of Erdoğan is quite significant. The world’s top politicians, as well as diplomats, were looking at the outcome of the election held in the last week of May 2023. There were speculations about whether Kilicdaroglu could defeat Erdoğan. However, the authoritarian ruler has returned to power yet again.

Turkey’s relationship with India is not so cordial. President Erdoğan has strongly criticised India on various issues at the UN on a number of occasions in recent times. He has made unnecessary comments especially on the Kashmir issue, repeatedly. He also criticised India’s stance on Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir (POK). “It is unfortunate that India and Pakistan have failed to resolve the Kashmir issue in the last 75 years,” he told the UN in 2022.

The 69-year-old Turkish President triggered controversies by criticising India in the past. Once, Erdoğan hinted that he would send his secretive paramilitary group SADAT to POK. It is believed that SADAT has close links with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI; the largest and best-known component of the Pakistani intelligence community). It would not be pleasant for India, if SADAT is deployed in POK.

President Erdoğan further expressed interest in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Pakistan. Turkey’s intervention is a good piece of news for Beijing, given the losses China has incurred by investing in the South Asian country. It might put India under tremendous diplomatic pressure. Even Ankara opposed India’s decision to import crude oil from Russia, with Erdoğan saying that the oil exported by Russia should be blocked before it enters India. The Erdoğan Administration also refused to supply Bayraktar TB2 drones to India, although Ankara supplied these drones to Ukraine. Ukraine is currently using these drones against the Russian forces.

A section of political observers is of the opinion that Erdoğan’s Turkey, along with Pakistan and China, has always been involved in anti-India conspiracy. Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, visited Turkey in November 2022 to discuss various important bilateral, regional and international issues with the Turkish President. Erdoğan reportedly assured the visiting Prime Minister that Ankara would help Islamabad strengthen the Pakistani Armed Forces.

President Erdoğan’s religious policies, too, are controversial, and it might be a cause of concern for India. He provided mosques and other religious institutions in Turkey with a huge amount of financial aid. The Turkish President wants to snatch the leadership of the Islamic World from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with the help of Pakistan, Malaysia and Qatar, as he is eager to re-establish the Ottoman Empire.

Turkey’s economic situation is quite shaky. Since the devastating earthquake rocked Turkey in February 2023, the economic situation of the country has worsened. The food crisis has also intensified in the past three months. Dealing with this situation is now a big challenge for Erdoğan as President. Although bilateral ties are not so good, India stood by Turkey after the earthquake, and sent humanitarian aid. (New Delhi also sent a rescue team to Ankara.)

Some experts believe that President Erdoğan would continue the hostility with India after coming to power. It is also felt feasible by them that he could make diplomatic moves against India with the help of Pakistan.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das