Ahead of the 18th BRICS Summit in India, Türkiye’s Ambassador to India Ali Murat Ersoy outlined the goal of moving bilateral relations from intermittent engagement to a consistent, institutionalized and pragmatic partnership. Having spent nearly 1 year in New Delhi, Ersoy navigated a challenging period marked by a travel boycott that began amid perceptions that Türkiye had sided with Islamabad during Operation Sindoor. The number of visitors from India to Türkiye fell from over 330 thousand in 2024 to just over 200 thousand in 2025, before rising again in the first 8 months of 2026.
Describing India as a global economic powerhouse and a civilizational peer, Ersoy said the potential in technology, film and television production, tourism, cultural exchange and space cooperation remained untapped. He said the mutual popularity of Turkish and Indian content had not been sufficiently leveraged commercially.
In India’s space ecosystem, which was opened to the private sector in 2020, the number of registered startups has risen from about 2 dozen to well over 300 today. These companies operate in launch vehicles, satellites, propulsion systems, Earth observation and space situational awareness.
Why it matters
The goal of moving relations from intermittent contacts to an institutional footing points to an effort to reduce the impact of political tensions on tourism and economic engagement. The decline in visitor numbers and the subsequent recovery show how quickly public perceptions can affect mobility between the two countries. Addressing technology, visual content, culture and space together indicates a desire to base the partnership not only on diplomacy but also on ties between the private sector and societies. While the rapid growth of space startups in India creates a broader pool of potential partners for cooperation, it remains unclear through which concrete and lasting mechanisms this potential will be harnessed.
Background
Türkiye is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: over the past 90 days, we have published 53 stories mentioning it, the latest dated September 15, 2026.