Jamia snaps academic ties with Turkish institutions citing national security concerns

New Delhi, May 15 (PTI) The Jamia Millia Islamia has suspended all academic collaborations with institutions affiliated to the government of Turkiye citing national security concerns, officials said on Thursday.
    The move came against the backdrop of Turkiye's backing for Pakistan and its condemnation of India's recent strikes on terror camps in the neighbouring country and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) under Operation Sindoor. Pakistan also used Turkish drones on a large scale in the recent military conflict with India.
    "Due to national security considerations, any MoU between Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) and any institution affiliated to the government of Turkiye stands suspended with immediate effect until further orders. Jamia Millia Islamia stands firmly with the nation,” the university said in a post on X.
    The Delhi University (DU), meanwhile, said it has no active collaboration with any Turkish or Azerbaijani institutions as all its previous MoUs have already expired.
    "The DU has examined all the active international collaborations and MoUs. We currently have no collaboration with Turkiye or Azerbaijan; the collaborations we had in the past expired in 2024. We don't have any student from these two countries at present. The last Turkish student passed out from DU last year. We stand with the country," a senior DU official told PTI.
    Speaking to PTI, JMI's PRO Saima Saeed said, "Jamia has suspended any form of collaboration with any Turkish educational institution and also any collaboration with any Turkish establishment. We stand with the government and the nation, and everything stands suspended until further notice."
    Jamia's decision followed similar moves by other leading institutions.
    The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has also suspended its MoU with Turkiye’s Inonu University, which was signed earlier this year for faculty and student exchange programmes.
    "JNU has suspended the MoU due to national security considerations as JNU stands with the nation and the armed forces, many of whom are JNU alumni," Vice-Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit said.
    After Turkiye and Azerbaijan condemned India's recent strikes on terror camps in Pakistan and PoK, New Delhi's trade relations with Ankara and Baku were expected to come under strain.
    There were growing calls for a boycott of Turkish goods and tourism from certain quarters across India.
    Several travel platforms, including EaseMyTrip and Ixigo, have issued advisories against visiting Turkiye, reflecting the mounting public sentiment in India against the West Asian nation.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)