With their bilateral ties under strain over the Kashmir issue, India issued a travel advisory on Wednesday cautioning its nationals intending to visit Turkey which has launched an offensive against Kurds in Syria. “Government of India has been receiving queries from Indian nationals on travelling to Turkey in view of the situation in the region. Although there have been no reports of the untoward incident in the country so far involving Indian nationals, travellers are requested to exercise utmost caution while travelling to Turkey, “ the Indian Embassy in Ankara said in an “Alert” posted on its website.
Relations between India and Turkey were strained recently after Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had, at the UN General Assembly session last month, made statements against scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir's special status by New Delhi. Reacting sharply to statements made by Turkey on Kashmir, Indian External Affairs Ministry asked Ankara to get a proper understanding "of the situation on the ground before" commenting on the matter.
A few days later, India also expressed deep concerns about the unilateral military offensive by Turkey in north-east Syria, saying that Ankara's actions can undermine the stability in the region and has the potential for causing humanitarian and civilian distress. India has always been supportive of the Kurds in Syria.
Turkey also supported Pakistan during the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary meeting in Paris earlier this month. The inter-governmental terror-financing watchdog has warned Pakistan to take prompt action against terror funding by February 2020 or face blacklisting, until which the country will remain on its grey list.