Türkiye and India Military Cooperation Opportunities and Challenges

Relations between Türkiye and India date back centuries. The Mughal Empire was the last Turkish state to rule in the lands of India, which witnessed power struggles involving various Turkish tribes in certain periods of history. The geography of India came under the domination of the British from the 18th century, who held the administration of these lands until the end of the World War II. In 1947, it was divided into two Pakistan and India. In relations with Türkiye, the material and moral support provided by Indian Muslims in the Turkish War of Independence led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk against the imperialist states after the First World War still preserves its place in the memory of the Turkish people. Afterward, there was not much development in the relations between the two countries, and as mentioned above, the British colonial empire also played a role. During the Cold War, there was no significant military cooperation between the two countries who were on the same side, as part of the containment doctrine applied by the United States against the Soviet Union. The closeness that has developed between Pakistan and Türkiye, which has problematic relations with India and has come to the brink of war, especially in the Kashmir issue, also plays a role in this.