A family of four from central Kolkata on Wednesday morning decided to cancel a planned trip to Turkey for the summer vacations, thanks to the growing “Boycott Turkey and Azerbaijan” calls on social media.
The family had paid well over a lakh for tickets and around Rs 80,000 for visas.
Similarly, a Singapore-based Indian banker was wondering whether to strike off Turkey from the vacation itinerary that also includes Greece.
The sword wielders on social media, a la 21st century versions of Don Quixote and his squire Sancho Panza, have decided to pick on the two countries for aligning with Pakistan during the four-day war between the two sub-continental neighbours.
“The craze among Indians visiting Turkey and Baku has also dwindled owing to the spate of events. Not many people wanting to go now since they are not sure how it will play out,” Devmit Mukherjee, founder and owner of DM Tours and Travels in Kolkata, told The Telegraph Online.
The travellers and wannabe travellers are not the only ones to have stood up to these two nations. Online travel platforms like EaseMyTrip and Ixigo have issued advisories against travelling to these two countries. Indian traders have shut doors on Turkish marbles and apples. Speculative news reports are already declaring that New Delhi will cut off trade ties with Turkey and Azerbaijan.
“Indians gave Rs 4,000+cr to Turkey & Azerbaijan last year through tourism. Created jobs. Boosted their economy, hotels, weddings, flights. Today, both stand with Pakistan after Pahalgam attack. Plenty of beautiful places in India & the world. Please skip these 2 places.
Jai Hind,” Harsh Goenka, chairperson of RPG Enterprises, wrote on his X (formerly Twitter) handle on Tuesday.
Actor Rupali Ganguly of Sarabhai vs Sarabhai fame requested to cancel all bookings to Turkey.
“Can we please cancel our bookings for Turkey. This is my request to all Indian celebs/influencers/travellers. This is the least we can do as Indians,” she posted on her X handle on Tuesday.
A Congress leader from Mumbai, Husain Dalwai, also joined the Boycott Turkey bandwagon, adding China to the list. “We all should boycott Turkish projects. There is no doubt in that but more than Turkey, it was China who helped Pakistan. We should also boycott Chinese products,” Dalwai told PTI.
Ankit Jain, who writes on politics, cricket and jewellery on his social media, announced that 800 families from Ahmedabad had cancelled their group booking to Turkey.
Several social media users have been suggesting Greece, Armenia (which has been at war with Azerbaijan) and Cyprus for the travel-thirsty Indians – instead of the new “enemy”, Turkey.
Turkey, as foreign secretary Vikram Misri had said, supplied drones to Islamabad that were used against India. Azerbaijan’s ties with Pakistan have also grown deeper over the last few years.
Pakistan gave not simply moral support to the Azerbaijani troops in the Nagorno-Karabakh war which happened while the world was fighting the novel coronavirus in late 2020. Pakistan supplied weapons and trained the Azerbaijani special forces.
The streets of Baku were dotted with Pakistani flags when Azerbaijan claimed victory in November 2020. Following that, intensive negotiations went on between the two countries for Pakistan-made military jets and supply of Azerbaijani gas to Pakistan.
Last year during a visit to Pakistan, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev had pledged support to Islamabad on Kashmir.
The underlying sentiment across Indian social media users has been a moral question: Should Indian tourists spend their money on travelling to Turkey which is supplying its indigenous drones to Pakistan?
Fact is, the geopolitics around these two nations is complicated; tourism is just one cog in the wheel.
India’s trade ties with Turkey go back by over 50 years. A bilateral trade agreement was signed between the two countries in 1973, followed by a Joint Commission on Economic and Technical Cooperation exactly a decade later.
India has a trade surplus with Turkey. India exports mineral fuels and oil, electrical machinery and equipment, auto parts, organic chemicals, pharma products, tanning and dyeing items, plastic, rubber, cotton, man-made fibres and filaments, iron and steel to Turkey.
Apart from the marble slabs and blocks and apples, Turkey also trades in gold, vegetable, lime and cement, mineral oil, chemicals, natural or cultured pearls, iron and steel.
To Azerbaijan, India exports tobacco and tobacco products, tea, coffee, cereals, chemicals, plastic, rubber, paper and paper board and ceramic products. India depends on Azerbaijan for animal fodder, organic chemicals, essential oils, perfumery, raw hides and skin and leather. In 2023, India was the third-largest destination for Azerbaijan’s crude oil.
There are around 4,500 Indian nationals in both the countries, including 200 students in Turkey.
Like in every social media war, there were those who took potshots at those pushing for Boycott Turkey.
“Those who can’t afford to travel to Aizawl and Tripura are calling for boycott of travel to Turkey and Azerbaijan,” quipped one user.
Several people called out the role of China, the most trusted ally of Pakistan, and asked why there is complete silence on the much stronger and formidable geopolitical rival of India.
Last heard, the family of four from central Kolkata had changed their mind and will leave for Istanbul next Monday. They have already spent too much on the trip to cancel.