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How Turkey's support for Pakistan during Op Sindoor is now hurting country
Turkey didn't offer Pakistan just verbal support – it also reportedly sent its ally unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) which were used against India as well as drone operators.
Turkey during India's Operation Sindoor expressed support for Pakistan. Now, Ankara is bearing the brunt of the fallout of its decision.
Turkey in June witnessed a huge drop when it comes to Indian tourists. This came after many had in India called for a boycott campaign after T urkey backed Pakistan during New Delhi's response to the Pahalgam terror attack.
But what happened exactly? What do we know?
Let's take a closer look
What happened?
The number of Indian visitors to Turkey in May and June 2025 dropped precipitously.
The month witnessed a 37 per cent decrease in tourists year over year.
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Just 24,250 Indian tourists visited the country this June compared to 38,307 travellers in the same month in June 2024.
Even worse for Ankara, June is the month that traditionally witnesses Indians heading to Turkey in droves.
May was down too with just 31,659 Indian tourists entering Turkey compared to 41,554 travellers who visited in May 2024.
From January to June 2025, just 139,215 Indians visited Turkey — a 15 per cent decline from 164,373 over the same period last year.
Around 3.3 lakh Indian travellers headed to Turkey in 2024.
That number was up 20 per cent from 2023, when around 2.74 lakh Indian travellers headed to Ankara.
In 2022, that figure was at 2.21 lakh Indian visitors.
That was a 20 per cent increase from 2023 when around 2.28 lakh Indians travelled to Turkey.
Wave of cancellations
A number of portals including MakeMyTrip, EaseMyTrip and Cleartrip had announced that they would no longer promote their Turkey packages.
Indian companies and experts have said that travellers have been cancelled their trips to Turkey in droves.
Experts say at least 2,000 such cancellations were witnessed between May and June alone.
'We have received around 2,000 cancellations and rescheduling requests in the last week for travel to Istanbul and Baku over the next three months,' a senior airline official told Moneycontrol.
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May and June are the peak vacation months for Indian tourists.
India through tourism filled Turkey's coffers to the tune of almost Rs 3,000 crore last year. Reuters
'Indian tourists usually book their vacations much in advance, so the real impact of the drop in tourism is being seen in June," a senior government official told News18.
MakeMyTrip in May said bookings dropped 60 per cent and cancellations increased 250 per cent.
The firm in a statement had said it stands 'in solidarity with our nation and out of deep respect for our armed forces, we strongly support this sentiment and advise all against all non-essential travel to Azerbaijan and Turkey. We have already discontinued all promotions and offers on our platform to discourage tourism to these two destinations".
EaseMyTrip said it had witnessed at least 22 per cent of trips being cancelled.
Ixigo too stopped taking bookings to Turkey.
Experts say Indians are now preferring destinations such as Kazakhstan, Egypt, Jordan, Georgia, and Armenia for their vacations.
Other popular destinations include Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia.
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India's contribution to tourism in Turkey
For Turkey, tourism is no small thing.
It comprises around 12 per cent of the country's GDP and employs millions of people.
Though Indians comprised less than 1 per cent of Turkey's total tourists in 2024, they were the fastest-growing tourist market.
India visitors last year filled Turkey's coffers to the tune of between $350 million (Rs 3,000 crore) and $550 million (Rs 4,000 crore).
Which isn't surprising given that Indians can spend between Rs 2.9 lakh and Rs 3.35 lakh per trip in Turkey.
Experts say Indians flock to Turkey for weddings, luxury holidays, and corporate gatherings.
Rikant Pittie, CEO and Co-Founder, EaseMyTrip,told Moneycontrol, 'With average spending ranging between $1,200 and $2,000 per traveller in the two destinations [Turkey and Azerbaijan], the financial impact of Indian tourism is considerable. This steady inflow not only supports hotels and airlines but also fuels local businesses, event planners, and transport services. A decline in travel from India is likely to have a considerable effect across various parts of the tourism ecosystem in both countries'.
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'The impact on Turkey and Azerbaijan tourism industry from the Indian market is likely to be significant in the short term. Some customers have explicitly stated that they are uncomfortable travelling to destinations perceived as unsupportive of India. Such sentiment- based decisions are gaining momentum, particularly among family travellers and group tours. If this trend continues, both countries could witness a steep drop in inbound traffic from India, a market that has consistently contributed to their tourism revenue', Pittie added.
Turkey's backing of Pakistan
Pakistan had used Turkish-made drones to attack India during the conflict. Turkey also sent over UAV operators to help Pakistan during Operation Sindoor.
India suspects that Turkey had provided Pakistan the drones a week after the Pahalgam terror attack.
An April visit from a a high-ranking Turkish military and intelligence delegation led by Lt Gen Yasar Kadioglu to Pakistan had further aroused India's ire.
Pakistani Field Marshal Munir meets Turkish President Erdogan, along with Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif. Image: X
Kadioglu visited the Pakistan Air Force headquarters in Islamabad and met the chief of staff.
Erdogan during Operation Sindoor had vowed to support the 'brotherly people of Pakistan.'
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir have both visited Turkey to thank Erdogan for his stance.
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Turkey was only one of three countries alongside China and Azerbaijan in the United Nations to back Pakistan during Operation Sindoor.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had referred to these countries during his speech in Parliament, though he did not mention them by name.
Modi recently visited Cyprus en route to Canada for the G7 Summit in what was seen as a major signal to Turkey.
Cyprus and Turkey have been engaged in a long-standing border spat.
With inputs from agencies
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