NESA Center alumnus Prof. Dr. Selçuk Çolakoğlu recently authored a chapter in the book "Decoding the Chessboard of Asian Geopolitics: Asian Powerplay in South Asia, Central Asia, and West Asia" published by Palgrave Macmillan.

Dr. Çolakoğlu's chapter is titled "Turkey and India in the Asian Geopolitics: A Complex Relationship between Two Rising Powers in a Multipolar World." The chapter primarily explores the bilateral relations between India and Turkey, two emerging powers in the Indo-Pacific. It analyzes potential areas of cooperation as well as points of contention in contemporary Asian and global affairs.

Abstract

The beginning of the twenty-first century is a time of “rising powers,” including India and Turkey and the formation of the Group of 20 (G20) reflected this trend. India’s formation of a grouping in 2009 for “big rising powers” together with China, Russia, and Brazil (namely BRIC) and Turkey's joining a “middle power grouping,” namely MIKTA together with Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, and Australia in 2013 are clear reflections of New Delhi and Ankara’s further global outreach. All these developments have provided a chance for both India and Turkey to expand their relationship beyond the bilateral framework. In addition, the Turkish-Indian bilateral economic relations have deepened year by year with the help of their growing dynamic economies in the last two decades. However, it is difficult to say that New Delhi and Ankara successfully designed a resilient strategic partnership with a global perspective. Particularly, policy differences toward Pakistan have caused a diplomatic rift between Turkey and India in 2019 and afterward. The increasing competition/confrontation between Turkey as a NATO member and India as a member of the Quad, an anti-China strategic grouping in Asia with the United States, Japan, and Australia, have not joined the economic sanctions against Russia, despite the Western pressures. In addition, both New Delhi and Ankara do not want to confront China and exclude themselves from benefiting from Chinese investment and finance, despite some bilateral issues with Beijing. While India has a partnership with China in the BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Turkey is the dialogue partner of the SCO and a potential member of the BRICS. This chapter first analyzes the current political, economic, and strategic relations between India and Turkey. Then, it examines whether India and Turkey can collaborate for their global policies in a multipolar world.

The views presented in this paper are those of the speaker or author and do not necessarily represent the views of the NESA Center, of DoD, or its components.