'Send ED notice to anyone visiting...': Anger mounts in India as Turkey, Azerbaijan back Pakistan after Op Sindoor

Anger is growing in India over Turkey and Azerbaijan's public backing of Pakistan following India's precision military strikes on terror camps in Pakistan and PoK on May 7. Calls to boycott Turkish and Azeri businesses, travel, and associations have intensified across Indian civil society and business circles.

Amid the backlash, Sushant Sareen, Senior Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), made a suggestion on X: "Send ED notice to anyone visiting Turkey or Azerbaijan. Ek din mein zero traffic ho jayega." His comment came after a journalist pointed out that some firms had held their conference in Baku, Azerbaijan. 

"At least two large Indian firms that I’m aware of did their dealer conferences in Baku. These were planned before the Azeri officials backed terrorism. But henceforth, Indian companies and tourists should avoid Azerbaijan and Türkiye for events. No ifs, no buts," Kushan Mitra, a journalist, wrote on X.

Joining the conversation, Vijay Sapps, CEO of Ela Capital, suggested that New Delhi should stop Turkish airlines from tomorrow to India. "It aint big but start there, Turkey exported $7B to India and 550M to Pakistan and India gets things that can be easily got elsewhere," he said. "India supports Armenia, so Azerbaijan supporting Pakistan is no biggie. Turkey is different story."

Gurmeet Chadha, Managing Partner and CIO at Complete Circle, said that 2.5 lakh Indians travelled to Baku (Azerbaijan) and 2.75 lakh to Turkey. "Just remember this while planning your next travel," he urged the Indian travellers. "There are better places in India and globe. Also let's try n reduce Chinese products as much as viable/possible over time. Let’s do our bit!!"

Author R Jagannathan called for a review of airline ties. "We should avoid going to Turkey. Try Greece," he said, adding that Indigo should extricate itself from ties to Turkish Airlines just as the Tatas managed to avoid appointing a Turk as head of Air India. "I shudder to think what could have happened if a Turk headed the privatised national airline."

Some Indian businesses have already begun severing links. Travel brand Go Homestays announced the end of its partnership with Turkish Airlines. "We are officially ending our partnership with Turkish Airlines due to their unsupportive stance towards India. Going forward, we will no longer include their flights in our international travel packages. Jai Hind,” it declared in a post on X.

Goa Villas, a holiday rental platform, also said it would no longer serve Turkish citizens. "Due to Turkey's non-cooperative stance in the current global scenario involving India and Pakistan, we’ve decided not to offer any accommodation services to Turkish citizens in Goa. We stand firmly with our nation,” the company stated.