'The process is now under way': Turkey submits request to join BRICS nations

Turkey has submitted a request to join the BRICS group of major emerging market nations, the spokesman of ruling party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday.

“Our president has many times stated that we want to become a BRICS member… The process is now under way,” AFP quoted Omer Celik, spokesman for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), as saying.

Named after Brazil, Russia, India and China and South Africa, the BRICS group includes countries not listed in the acronym, such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Ethiopia and Egypt, which all joined earlier this year. The bloc is considered to be an alternative on the global stage to the US-led G7 group.

According to Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources, Erdoğan’s administration believed that “the geopolitical center of gravity” is moving away from the most developed economies.

The move also shows Ankara’s aims “to cultivate ties with all sides in a multipolar world” while still fulfilling its obligations as a key NATO member, the report added.

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“Turkey can become a strong, prosperous, prestigious and effective country if it improves its relations with the East and the West simultaneously,” Bloomberg quoted Erdoğan as saying in Istanbul over the weekend.

“Any method other than this will not benefit Turkey, but will harm it,” he added.

He said Turkey doesn’t have to choose between the European Union and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as some people claim.

“On the contrary, we have to develop our relations with both these and other organisations on a win-win basis,” added the President.

A former Turkish diplomat told Newsweek that the move has been driven by “accumulated frustrations” in Ankara with the West and the European Union.

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Ankara had submitted an application months ago amid frustration at its stalled bid to join the European Union, whose membership it has sought for decades.

With inputs from agencies