Turkey getting closer to membership in BRICS

Published 12 September 2024 at 14.07

Foreign. Turkey's application for membership in BRICS will be taken seriously by the member states, says a spokesman for Vladimir Putin. Even American analysts assess that the NATO country's application to join Russia's cooperation organization is serious.

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– Turkey has submitted an application for full membership. We will consider it, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters on Friday.

Turkey's ambition to become a member of the BRICS group, consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has once again come into the spotlight.

BRICS, which in 2023 was expanded by four new members – Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates – often seen as a Russian counterweight to Western-led organizations such as the EU, G7 and NATO, although the group lacks the formal structures and uniform rules that apply in the West, where the US is at the top.

For Turkey, a long-time ally of the US and a member of NATO since 1952, sees the application to join BRICS as part of the country's wider geopolitics.

George Dyson, senior analyst at Control Risks, explains that this move is in line with Turkey's broader geopolitical journey: to position itself as an independent actor in a multipolar world and a power player in its own right, not necessarily entirely dependent on the US.

– This does not mean that Turkey is completely abandoning the West, Dyson told MSNBC, adding:

– But Turkey wants to promote as many trade relations as possible and seize opportunities on its own without being limited by the direction of the West.

Despite decades of cooperation with Europe and the United States, Turkey has faced persistent resistance when it applied for EU- membership, something that has long been a sensitive issue for Ankara.

Former US ambassador and now Istanbul-based analyst Matthew Bryza tells MSBNC that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government want to “shake up the West”, both because of emotional irritation and as a negotiating tactic to push for concessions.

Turkey has in recent years expanded its role in global diplomacy, mediating in negotiations between, for example, Ukraine and Russia.

At the same time, the country has refrained from participating in sanctions against Russia, a stance that irritates the EU and the West but strengthens Turkey's independent role.

Economist Arda Tunca emphasizes that Turkey's desire to join BRICS is about reducing dependence of developed economies, especially the US, and strengthen cooperation with emerging countries.


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