This article covers the historical links between India and Türkiye, the visits and meetings of leaders and ministers, parliamentary exchanges and the dialogue mechanisms between the two foreign ministries. It is based on the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) bilateral brief of June 2026, and the dates and office titles are those the brief gives.

According to the MEA brief of June 2026, more recent historical contacts between India and Türkiye were reflected in the medical mission to Türkiye led by the Indian freedom fighter Dr. M.A. Ansari in 1912, during the Balkan Wars, and in the Khilafat movement (1919-1924). The brief also states that Mahatma Gandhi took a stand against the injustices inflicted on Türkiye at the end of World War I.

Meetings between the leaders

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Türkiye visited India to attend the G20 Summit in New Delhi from 9-10 September 2023. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Erdogan held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Summit. Their discussions covered the potential for cooperation in trade and investment, defence and security, civil aviation, and shipping.

President Erdogan had earlier paid a state visit to India in 2017, during which he was conferred an honorary degree by Jamia Milia Islamia University. Prime Minister Modi attended the G20 Summit held in Antalya, Türkiye, in November 2015.

The brief also lists these meetings between the two leaders at multilateral events:

  • on the sidelines of COP 28 in Dubai on 1 December 2023
  • during the SCO Summit in Samarkand (Uzbekistan) on 16 September 2022
  • during the G-20 Summit in Osaka in June 2019
  • on the sidelines of the BRICs Plus meeting in Johannesburg in July 2018
  • during the G20 Summit in Hangzhou in September 2016

Ministerial and official meetings

External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar held a bilateral meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting, 2024 in Vientiane on 27 July 2024. He had earlier met the then Turkish Foreign Minister Mr. Mevlut Cavusoglu, who visited New Delhi from 1-2 March 2023 to attend the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting. The two ministers had also met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on 20 September 2022.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan sent a video message for the Foreign Ministers' Session of the 3rd Voice of Global South Summit (VOGSS 3.0), hosted by India on 17 August 2024. Turkish Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Mr. Ahmet Berat Conkar sent a video message for the Energy Ministers' Session of the same summit.

Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Mr. Hardeep S.Puri met Turkish Minister of Energy Mr. Alparslan Bayraktar on the sidelines of the Gastech 2024 Conference in Houston, USA on 17 September 2024. In September 2024, Secretary (West) Mr. Tanmaya Lal had a bilateral meeting with Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Dr. Nuh Yilmaz on the sidelines of UNGA in New York.

Earlier visits

The brief records that the visit of the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, in 1960 was the first prime ministerial visit to Türkiye. It lists these later exchanges at the level of heads of state and government and vice presidents:

  • 1965: Vice President Dr. Zakir Hussain visited Türkiye.
  • 1986: Turkish Prime Minister Turgut Ozal visited India.
  • 1988: Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi paid a return visit to Türkiye.
  • 1989: Turkish President General Kenan Evren visited India.
  • 1993: President Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma visited Türkiye.
  • 1995: Turkish President Suleyman Demirel visited India.
  • September 1998: President K. R. Narayanan paid a State visit to Türkiye.
  • April 2000: Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit visited India.
  • September 2003: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee visited Türkiye.
  • 2008: the then Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited India.
  • 2010: the then Turkish President Abdullah Gul visited India.
  • October 2011: Vice President Hamid Ansari visited Türkiye.
  • October 2013: President of India Pranab Mukherjee visited Türkiye.

At ministerial level, EAM S.M. Krishna visited Türkiye in May 2011 to attend the 4th UN Conference on LDCs held in Istanbul. He visited again in November 2011 to attend the Istanbul Conference for 'Afghanistan Security and Cooperation in the Heart of Asia'. EAM Salman Khurshid visited Türkiye on 24 July 2013 and met Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

EAM Sushma Swaraj visited Türkiye from 15-16 January 2015 and held a bilateral meeting with Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on 16 January 2015. Foreign Minister Cavusoglu made a brief transit visit to Delhi in March 2015 and paid an official visit to India on 18-19 August 2016. In April 2015, Minister of State for External Affairs Gen. (Retd) V.K. Singh participated in the 100th anniversary ceremonies of the Canakkale Land and Sea battles.

Parliamentary exchanges

The brief notes that there have been exchanges of parliamentary delegations. Speaker of Lok Sabha Mr. Somnath Chatterjee visited Türkiye in June 2005. A multi-party Indian parliamentary delegation, consisting of Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Water Resources Mr. Pawan Kumar Bansal, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Planning Mr. V. Narayanasamy and seven Members of Parliament, paid a goodwill visit to Türkiye from 20-23 January 2010.

Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye Mr. Numan Kurtulmus visited India in October 2023 to attend P20 during India's G20 Presidency. He met Vice President and Chairman, Rajya Sabha, Mr. Jagdeep Dhankar on the sidelines. Members of Parliament of the two countries also interact at multilateral parliamentary conferences.

The Grand National Assembly of Turkiye (GNAT) has had a Turkiye-India Parliamentary Friendship Group in successive Parliaments. The first group was established during the 13th Legislative Year, between 1965-1969. Following the general elections in May 2023, a new group of 15 members has been formed, and the brief names its current Chair as Mr. Mehmet Galip Ensarioglu, a senior Member of Parliament from the ruling AK Party.

Dialogue mechanisms

Foreign Office Consultations (FOCs) at Secretary (Deputy Foreign Minister) level were institutionalised through a Protocol signed in April 2000. The 12th round was held in New Delhi on 8 April 2026. The Indian delegation was led by Sibi George, Secretary (West), Ministry of External Affairs, and the Turkish delegation was headed by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Berris Ekinci.

The 4th meeting of the Joint Working Group on Counter-terrorism was held in Ankara on 4 July 2019. A further mechanism, the India-Türkiye Policy Planning Dialogue, was institutionalised between the two foreign ministries, and its first round was held virtually on 22 October 2020.

Academic conference in Ankara

On 26-27 February 2025, an international conference on the historical and contemporary perspectives of India-Türkiye relations was held at the Foundation for Political Economic and Social Research (SETA) in Ankara. According to the brief, the Embassy organised it in collaboration with SETA and India's International Dialogue & Diplomacy Foundation (IDDF).