Voices Pushpesh Pant Ravi Shankar Devdutt Pattanaik Neha Sinha Anuja Chandramouli Swami Sukhabodhananda MAGAZINE Buffet People Wellness Books Food Art & Culture Entertainment NEW DELHI may 18 2025 SUNDAY PAGES 12 Recep Tayyip ErdoGan Sultan of Subversion Turkey’s military aid to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor marks a hostile escalation of a global Islamist nexus against India By ravi shankar O n July 24, 2020, Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia glowed under floodlights, its minarets soaring towards the night sky Turkey’s powerful and radical Islamist . President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his voice resolute, declared to the thousands assembled to see the transformation of history; a church built by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in the 6th century which later became a mosque after the , Ottoman conquest in 1453, designated a museum in 1934 by Kemal Attaturk’s secular government and now become a mosque, once again. Erdogan’s rhetoric channelled the Islamist soul: “The resurrection of Hagia Sophia is the sound of Muslims’ footsteps”. For Muslims from Ankara to Islamabad, he was showing them a road to lost imperial heritage; for critics, it was a lurch toward radicalism. At 71, Erdogan, Turkey’s leader for over two decades is a global force, championing Pakistan, defying NATO, and forging a military powerhouse. His quest is to restore Ottoman glory and unify a fractured global Islamic identity For . India, this ambition, amplified by Turkey’s ties with China, threatens maritime routes and regional influence. Erdogan’s aggressive actions have a profound impact on India, seen specifically during Operation Sindoor with Pakistan using Turkish missiles and drones. “Turkey has been supporting Pakistan for a long time,” says Harsh V Pant, Vice President, Studies and Foreign Policy at Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi, and Professor of International Relations with King’s India Institute at King’s College London. “Pervez Musharraf even trained in Turkey he adds. During the ,” recent conflict, Turkey with assistance from China, was , one of the state-backed hackers and hacktivists among Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia, who attacked India in cyberspace. Turkey VS India: A Historical Rift After the Pahalgam terror attack in Kashmir, the world pointed the finger firmly at Pakistan. Erdogan’s response was pro terror: at a meeting with Pak PM Shehbaz Sharif, he assured, “Turkey stands with Pakistan in its just struggle”. When the Turkish warship TCG Buyukada docked in Karachi as a “courtesy call”, it was carrying anti-ship missiles, torpedoes and air defence systems. Pakistani journalist Ahmed Quraishi tweeted that “amidst tensions with India, this likely isn’t just a courtesy call…With tensions rising and Indian talk of a Karachi blockade, Turkey’s visit signals strategic solidarity with Pakistan”. The India-Pakistan clash marks Turkey’s formal emergence as India’s foe, a battle between two visions of sovereignty “India and Turkey . shared mutual respect in the 1950s,” noted historian Srinath Raghavan, citing UN cooperation. But Turkey’s alignment with Pakistan via the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) and support during the 1971 IndoPak war had sowed discord. Erdogan’s UN speech slammed the revocation of special status for Kashmir “a violation of UN resolutions”. India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar hit back, “Turkey should respect India’s sovereignty Its recent drone supplies to Pakistan have .” widened the rift. Public hostility towards Turkey has already begun. Shiv Sena leader Murji Patel has called for a boycott of Turkish goods. Turkey was invited to India’s briefing to 70 nations on ‘new normal’ in Pakistan ties, but when it said it would send a junior officer, India refused. India has been countering Erdogan’s rhetoric and connivance with the Pak generals by strengthening ties with Greece, Cyprus and Armenia. “India’s support for Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh is a direct challenge,” analyst Sinan Bayraktar said in an interview in Hurriyet, Turkey’s largest mass circulation newspaper; Armenia has been fighting Azerbaijan which has Erdogan’s backing. The Voice of the Ummah or Radical Firebrand? Erdogan’s Kashmir and Gaza stances reflect an existential will, asserting Islamic identity against Western dominance. In October 2023, the Turkish leader defended Hamas: “Hamas is not a terrorist organisation, it is a group of mujahideen fighting for their land,” he told a massive crowd at a rally in capital Ankara. A 2016 German report, cited by Deutsche Welle, called Turkey “a central platform of action for Islamist groups.” CNN quoted US Senator Lindsey Graham in 2019, “Turkey’s behaviour is increasingly assertive and Islamist”. Erdogan denies he is a radical Islamist. “We are fighting terrorism, not supporting it,” he said in 2022, citing 9,000 ISIS fighter deportations, as per an Anadolu Agency report. His Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) leadership inspires other nations of his faith. “Erdogan is the only leader standing up for Palestinians,” Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim told Al Jazeera. But critics only see peril. “His rhetoric empowers extremists,” was the response of Turkish opposition leader Canan Kaftancioglu while speaking to The Guardian. Erdogan’s vision, like Nietzsche’s Übermensch trope, seeks to transcend a postcolonial void through Islamic resurgence; however, this risks fuelling radicalism in a world weary of death. Erdogan’s actions—like leading OIC summits or condemning France’s burqa ban—resonate across Muslim-majority nations. But his critics, including secular Turks, warn of a dangerous future. “He’s not Al-Qaeda, but he’s playing with fire,” said Ayse, a 45-year-old Istanbul professor, who fled after the 2016 coup purges. “Supporting Hamas isn’t just ideology—it’s a power grab.” While Turkey’s support for Pakistan is framed as ideological and strategic, it’s worth noting that Turkey cannot engage in direct military confrontation with India due to logistical challenges and its NATO Turn to page 2 Ai generated image