Turkey wants to become a member of the BRICS but no concrete steps have yet been taken, former minister and current Justice and Development Party (AKP) spokesman Ömer Çelik announced late yesterday following a meeting of the party’s central executive, chaired by party leader and current Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
During a press appearance in Ankara after the meeting (which lasted for two and a half hours well into the afternoon), Çelik, quoted by several Turkish media, recalled that President Erdoğan had previously expressed Turkey’s desire to join the alliance of developing economies founded in 2010, as the Turkish government sees the global geopolitical centre of gravity shifting away from Western countries.
‘The process is ongoing, if there are any concrete developments we will share them with you,’ Çelik told reporters confirming that Turkey’s request to become a member of BRICS has been made, although there is no official response from the organisation for now.
Çelik’s comments came in response to press questions about reports in international media such as Bloomberg that Turkey has formally applied to join the bloc led by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (which also includes Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran and the United Arab Emirates), frustrated by the lack of progress in the EU accession process and seeking to forge new alliances beyond its traditional ties with the West.
A multipolar world moving away from the West
The Bloomberg report quoted sources in Turkey related to the process who spoke on condition of anonymity (as they were not authorised to make public statements) as saying that, for the current Turkish government under Erdoğan, the centre of global decision-making is shifting eastwards, so Ankara would seek not to move away from the West but to maintain ties with all parties in what it sees as a multipolar world, while still fulfilling its obligations as one of NATO’s most important members.
The request to join the BRICS was reportedly made some months ago and is partly also the result of tensions with some NATO member countries following Turkey’s decision to maintain ties with both Kiev and Moscow after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the source added.
Neither the Foreign Ministry nor the Press and Communications Office of the Presidency of the Republic commented on these reports, although last June Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had expressed Turkey’s interest in joining the BRICS, but without elaborating more on this. In late August Azerbaijan (a close historical ally of Turkey), following Putin’s visit to Baku, announced that it had formally applied to join the organisation.
Russia responded positively to the Turkish foreign minister’s proposal at the time, assuring that Turkey’s membership would be one of the points of the next BRICS summit to be held at the end of October in Kazan, which Erdoğan has been invited to attend, as confirmed yesterday by Russian Vice-President Yuriy Ushakov. The Turkish president himself declared last weekend in Istanbul that ‘Turkey can be a strong, prosperous, prestigious and capable country if it improves its relations with both the East and the West. ‘Any other way than this will not be beneficial for Turkey, but will harm it,’ Erdoğan said.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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