India Vs Turkey: Supporting Pakistan is becoming more expensive for Turkey with each passing day and its effect is also visible in the stock markets there. The Turkish aviation company Celebi has lost a huge amount of money due to cancellation of its security clearance.
Turkey’s love for Pakistan is continuously taking a toll on it. On one hand, while India is suffering economic losses due to the boycott of its products under the Boycott Turkey campaign, the condition of Turkish companies doing business in India is bad. The latest example of this is Turkish Aviation Company Celebi. Yes, last Thursday, the Indian government canceled the security clearance of Turkey’s ground handling service provider company Celebi Aviation with immediate effect and this action of India had such an impact that the company’s valuation decreased by one-third in just two days. Not only this, the jobs of about 3800 employees of the company working in India (Celebi Job Cut Crisis) also came under threat.
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PAK’s support and India’s action
First of all, let us tell you how Turkey has come under India’s target. So let us tell you that after the death of 26 tourists in the Pahalgam terror attack on 22 April 2025, India caused havoc by air strikes in Pakistan and POK. When Pakistan, enraged by this, did nefarious act on the border, it also suffered huge losses due to Indian attack there. Amidst the tension between India and Pakistan, Turkey along with China also supported Pakistan. Not only this, but the anti-terror action taken by the Indian Armed Forces under Operation Sindoor was also criticized. Since then, tension continues between the two countries and the Boycott Turkey campaign started gaining momentum in India.
Turkey gets one blow after another
Turkey’s love for Pakistan cost it even more when on Thursday last week, the Government of India cancelled the security clearance of ground handling service provider Turkish company Celebi Aviation. Confirming this in an official order, it was said that this step has been taken in the interest of national security. It is worth noting that according to the order issued by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), Celebi Airport Services India Pvt Ltd was given security clearance as a ground handling agency on 21 November 2022, which has now been cancelled. Celebi Aviation was carrying out high security tasks like ground handling, cargo service and airside operations at 9 major airports of the country, including sensitive airports like Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai.
Before this big setback, under the Boycott Turkey campaign, boycott of everything from apples to other goods coming from there was started. Not only this, the Turkish economy, which is largely dependent on tourism, started getting more affected by messing with India when many travel platforms also started cancelling packages there. Travel platforms like EaseMyTrip, MakeMyTrip and Ixigo have advised travelers to avoid traveling to Turkey and Azerbaijan. At the same time, Go Homestays has ended its agreement with Turkish Airlines.
Turkish company’s stock crashes
India’s shocking decision to revoke security clearance for Celebi’s airport operations has caused a loss of about $200 million in the valuation of Celebi Airport Services India and wiped out a third of the Turkish company’s global revenue. Celebi Hava Servisi AS shares fell 20% in just two trading sessions on the Istanbul Stock Exchange and fell to 2,002 liras last Friday. This decline has reduced the company’s market value to around 4.8 billion Turkish liras, which is 30% lower than its 52-week high level
India’s action halted Celebi’s operations at 9 busiest airports in India, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai. Not only this, these major airports have already re-allocated the contracts, which has also closed all the doors for the immediate return of the Turkish aviation company. Let us tell you that Celebi contributed a revenue of Rs 1,522 crore and EBITDA of Rs 393 crore in the last FY24. Its most profitable units were Celebi Delhi Cargo and Celebi NAS, which together earned a profit of Rs 188 crore after tax.
3800 employees at risk of losing their jobs!
After this, while the company is burdened with an outstanding debt of Rs 183 crore related to its Indian business, these liabilities have now become uncertain due to the halt in operations. Apart from this, its investment of $200-250 million in ground handling and cargo infrastructure in the country is at risk of being written off or reused. To get relief from this, Celebi has approached the Delhi High Court for relief and its petition is to be heard on Monday. Reportedly, more than 3,800 employees of the company have been affected by India’s action. However, the airports have promised to accommodate them through other service providers.
