Fact Check: No, Turkey Has Not Announced Expulsion of Indian Tourists
During the recent India-Pakistan military conflict, Turkiye (Turkey) stood by Pakistan and offered complete support to
Claim :
Turkey plans to expel all Indian tourists from the countryFact :
Turkey has made no such announcement
During the recent India-Pakistan military conflict, Turkiye (Turkey) stood by Pakistan and offered complete support to them. Pakistan used Turkiye-made drones during the conflict, fueling the tensions. Turkey is Pakistan’s second-largest arms supplier and among its closest allies, and it has consistently backed Pakistan on Kashmir. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs publicly criticised the military attack in Pakistan, even as the rest of the world was condemning the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam.
This started tensions between India and Turkiye. An online protest was started with the use of hashtags like #boycottturkey and #boycottAzerbaijan. Hundreds of Indian travellers have cancelled their tour plans to visit Turkiye and Azerbaijan. These cancellations took place after the travel portal issued a travel advisory on May 9, strongly advising limiting travel to both these countries unless essential.
Meanwhile, a message claiming that Turkiye is planning to expel all Indian tourists from the country is going viral on social media platforms like X. Some users shared this along with images of Indian and Turkiye flags. The caption shared goes as: “Turkey plans to expel all Indian tourists from the country. Both India and Turkey are at the verge of boycotting all types of relations.”
Here is the archive link of the claim.
Fact check:
The claim is false. Turkiye has not made any announcement expelling Indian tourists.
When we searched using keywords, we did not find any such announcement made by the Turkiye government. After Indian tourists responded with a boycott, there has been a reported 300% plunge in summer travel reservations. Nearly 200,000 Indian tourists have cancelled their trips, including several high-end wedding reservations by Indian billionaires at top Turkish locations. This is negatively affecting the economy of Turkey.
When we searched the social media handles of the Turkish government, including the Foreign Ministry, we did not find any such announcements. When we searched for the latest announcements in the press release section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we found that the latest press release was published on May 31, 2025. It was regarding the floods in Nigeria.
The last statement about the tensions between India and Pakistan was on May 7, 2025.
The same statement was published on the X handle of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey.
The latest tweet by the account is not related to India or Indian tourists.
We also checked the News and Announcements section of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. We did not find any such announcement there either.
No Turkish official or website shared such an announcement. Tensions have recently risen between the two countries after Turkey openly supported Pakistan, leading to boycott calls from Indian tourists and mass cancellations. However, there is no evidence that Turkey is reciprocating by banning tourists from India. The claim is false.
