India Flexes Muscles in Turkey’s Backyard: A New Front in the Middle East

India is expanding ties with Greece, Cyprus, Armenia, and Israel to counter Turkey’s growing regional influence and its partnership with Pakistan. By strengthening defense cooperation and strategic partnerships, New Delhi is increasing its footprint in the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean. As a result, the India–Turkey rivalry has the potential to develop into a new geopolitical fault line in the region.

Before understanding India’s encirclement strategy against Turkey, it must be analyzed under which umbrella this new development is forging ahead. It’s the ‘Hexagon of Alliance’ – a novel idea proposed by Israeli PM Netanyahu just before PM Modi’s visit to Israel in February 2026. According to the Israeli PM, “this would include Israel, India, Greece, and Cyprus, along with several other countries from the Arab world, Africa, and Asia. This axis will comprise a series of nations that share a common viewpoint regarding the facts, problems, and goals against the radical axes like the rising radical Sunni axis and the radical Shia axis that we have seriously countered.”

Iran is being tackled; next on the list come the Sunnis, who are the pioneers of the Muslim Brotherhood. According to some experts, Turkey may well become the next target after Iran. Although during this meeting, India did not provide any statement regarding its membership in the proposed alliance, the current developments are clearly hinting towards one thing: India has started playing its part.

India’s Encirclement Strategy

Chanakya Kautilya once noted,........

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