India and Turkey are two vibrant economies, pluralistic societies and secular developing countries that have evolved from the two oldest civilizations and historical linkages. While India transformed from the Vedic civilization, Turkey has connectivity with ancient Greek, Persian, Roman and Ottoman empires. Both countries are geo-strategically located. Turkey is in Eurasia with large part in Western Asia and a smaller portion in South Eastern Europe, dubiously once called the “sick man of Europe” because it is culturally closer to Europe than Asia.
Turkey is also close to Africa. India on the other hand has a domineering location straddled between the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal on its three sides and the Great Himalayan Mountains in the North.
Turkey, with a population of nearly 70 million, is the world’s 17th. largest economy, while India with 130 million people is the second largest developing economy in the world. Though there are various ethnic groups, Turkey is predominantly a Sunni Muslim country maintaining good relations with Pakistan and other prominent Muslim countries, although Turkey is embroiled in war in Syria waged by the Islamic State of Iraq & Syria (ISIS).
Both India and Turkey are emerging regional powers and aspire to bigger roles globally. As a non-Muslim nation, India has the largest Muslim population in the world and it is naturally in the interest of India to have good relations with the world’s major Muslim countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nigeria, Iran and Turkey while striving hard to achieve similar bonhomie with Pakistan.
Both countries maintain cordial and friendly relations and India is Turkey’s 13th largest trade partner though Turkey has a fairly big trade deficit gap. Inspire of good bilateral relations with Turkey, the present relationship has not optimised to its potential. As emerging economies and members of G-20, both countries have the potential to improve mutually beneficial bilateral relationships to reach beyond their present levels. Furthermore, both India and Turkey broadly agree to resolve conflicts globally by peaceful means and diplomacy and share common policies for stabilization in Afghanistan by implementing some meaningful projects in the war-torn country.
Following former Turkish President Abdullah Gul’s visit to India in Feb 2010, Indian President Pranab Mukherjee visited Turkey in Oct. 2013 surging bilateral relations by signing numbers of MoUs. With PM Modi’s focus on economic development, beating unemployment, poverty and corruption, India’s foreign policies envisage cordial relationships with all countries. Much to the criticism of his domestic political opponents, Prime Minister Modi has undertaken a whirlwind world tour and visited Turkey from 14 to 16 Nov. 2015 to attend the G20 Summit, chaired by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The summit focused on the current state of the global economy, sustainable growth, development and climate change, investment, trade and energy. He discussed issues like global terrorism, political crises such as Syria, ISIS and the mass exodus of refugees.
Bilateral areas where both countries can benefit:
- India launched Turkey’s first Space satellite on 23 Sep. 2009. There is a need to further expand cooperation in this sphere as India is well ahead in space science and rocket technology in the global realm. Turkey can benefit from the Indian Lunar Exploration Programme Chandrayaan launched by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) incorporating future moon landings.
- India has large professionally trained armed forces who are well-trained in conventional, high altitude, desert and non-conventional insurgency warfare environments andvalidated military doctrines. Both countries have been sending large peace keeping military contingents under the aegis of the United Nations. There is wide scope for Turkey to utilize India’s military training institutes and carry out joint military training and exercises on a reciprocal basis. There could be meaningful collaboration in defence productions. Our navies can play major role in keeping maritime lanes safe.
- Turkey is the world’s second largest country in undertaking turnkey construction projects. With domestic economy shrinking, it is well spread globally. India’s economic development and FDI suffers from the lack of infrastructure. Turkey can help India in developing roads, highways, ports, shipyards, airports, hospitals, hotels, industrial complexes, large residential complexes, etc.
- India looks forward to investing in Turkey in sectors such as petroleum, construction, fertilizer, mining, energy, pharmaceuticals, communications and the automotive industry. Large numbers of Indian companies have registered in Turkey for business. Likewise, some Turkish companies have shown interest to do business in India. This phenomenon needs to be expanded.
- Turkey is one of the world’s most important tourist destinations. India can capitalize from traditional tourist resorts and medical tourism. The world is getting attracted to Yoga as a stress reliever and India has much to offer in yoga and Ayurvedic, herbal and traditional medical therapies.
- Culture, science and education are other areas to expand. Students, teachers, artists and intellectuals should visit each others’ country under mutual exchange programmes.
- Non-governmental organizations like Confederation of Indian Industry(CII), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) , The Associated Chambers of Commerce of India (ASSOCHAM) and their Turkish counterparts, Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen Association (TUSAID) and TUSKON need to be more pro-active.
