Recep Tayyip Erdogan has won the presidential election again in Turkey. Ardoan has been ruling Turkey for the last two decades and managed to win elections even after two decades in power.

What does Ardoan's victory mean for India? Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has congratulated Ardoan for his victory. While congratulating Modi, he expressed hope that in the coming times, bilateral relations between the two countries will be good and cooperation on global issues will increase.

Modi may have congratulated but he knows that relations with India have not been smooth after Ardoan came to power. In the last nine years, Modi visited many countries in the Middle East but did not visit Turkey.

Modi was about to visit Turkey in 2019 but the visit was canceled at the last moment. On August 5, 2019, India had abolished the special status of Kashmir and Turkey openly opposed it. Ardoan also raised this issue in the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Ardoan's line on Kashmir has been in favor of Pakistan. This has always been an uneasy truce for India. Turkey has also been an aggressor regarding Kashmir in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation i.e. OIC.

India has been saying in response to Turkey's objections that Kashmir is its internal matter and Turkey's remarks are interference in India's internal affairs.

India's former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal has also expressed concern by tweeting that Ardoan's victory is not good for India in any way.

Kanwal Sibal wrote in his tweet, "Ardoan's victory in Turkey is not a very comfortable situation for India. Türkiye will support Pakistan on Islamic line on Kashmir. Will be active on Kashmir even in OIC. Türkiye's jugalbandi with Pakistan is worrying. Erdogan's goal of the Ottoman Empire is also disastrous. Turkey's entry into BRICS under the leadership of Ardoan is not right in any sense. Ardoan's friendship with Russia is also very good."

Turkey is taking a pro-Pakistan stance. It is said to have originated in the early 1950s or the Cold War era.

In this period, there were two wars between India and Pakistan. Diplomatic relations between Türkiye and India were established in 1948. Then it was barely a year since India became independent.

A close partnership between India and Turkey failed to develop in these decades. It is said that the tension between Turkey and India has been due to two reasons. The first was Turkey's pro-Pakistan stand in the matter of Kashmir and the second was Turkey in the American camp in the Cold War while India was advocating non-alignment.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed in 1949 after World War II. Türkiye was its member. Nato was seen as an anti-Soviet organization.

Apart from this, in 1955, Turkey, Iraq, Britain, Pakistan and Iran together made 'Baghdad Pact'. The Baghdad Pact was then called the Defensive Organization.

In this, the five countries talked about achieving their common political, military and economic objectives. It was on the lines of Nato. Iraq was out of the Baghdad Pact in 1959. It was renamed the Central Treaty Organization after Iraq was out. The Baghdad Pact was also seen against the Soviet Union. On the other hand, India seemed close to the Soviet Union even while talking about non-alignment.

When the Cold War was waning, Turgut Özal, who was considered to be 'pro-Western' and 'liberal' President of Turkey, tried to bring relations with India back on track.

Ozal visited India in 1986. During this visit, Ozal proposed to set up offices of military representatives in the embassies of both the countries. After this, in 1988, the then Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi visited Turkey. After Rajiv Gandhi's visit, relations between the two countries improved on many fronts.

But in spite of this, Turkey's stand in the matter of Kashmir remained in favor of Pakistan, so the relationship did not get closer.

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