Türkiye Confirms Bid to Join the BRICS Block
Juliana Mori
Staff Writer
This week a Turkish official and the Kremlin confirmed reports of formally applying to join the BRICS block of economically developing nations. The republic formally submitted its application months ago, reports Bloomberg. Türkiye is the first North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member to attempt to join the BRICS block of nations. This bid to join BRICS will have severe foreign policy implications, especially regarding its participation in Western-led international organizations like NATO and its delayed membership with the European Union (EU) since 2005. Also, this has called into question Ankara’s ability to be an effective member in a Western-dominated world.
BRICS is an economic group founded by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa aiming to “[serve] common interests of emerging market economies and developing countries, but also to building a harmonious world of lasting peace and common prosperity.” One of the strategies of this agreement is ‘de-dollarization’ which is the concept of reducing “global reliance on the dollar” according to Reuters. Another goal is to reform international institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations to include more fair participation from non-Western states. The South China Morning Post reports that Türkiye has been a participant in past BRICS summits, but only recently made formal statements regarding aspirational participation with the “emerging market nations.”
Türkiye’s continuously delayed negotiations to join the EU have led it to seek other opportunities to establish global influence. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has stated that “Turkey can become a strong, prosperous, prestigious and effective country if it improves its relations with the East and the West simultaneously,” as reported by Telegraph. According to The Associated Press, Erdoğan defended his bid to join BRICS while being a NATO member by stating that Türkiye’s participation would be a “win-win” situation. However, this move has received a lot of criticism from Western nations and Newsweek reports that the bid to join BRICS “is more than just a hedge against NATO.”
Erdoğan’s foreign policy is one of the reasons that Türkiye’s EU negotiations have been delayed. Ankara’s criticism of the West’s allyship in the Russo-Ukrainian War and the Israel-Hamas War has delayed their membership to join the EU. Newsweek reports that “Erdogan argued that Western powers were taking wrong and potentially dangerous approaches to the two conflicts, both of which he warned had the potential to spiral.” This move has strained Türkiye’s relationship with Western nations like the United States.
According to PBS News, Putin has vowed that Türkiye’s application to join BRICS would receive, “support [in] this aspiration and desire to be together with the countries of this alliance… to solve common problems.” The relationship between Putin and Erdoğan has called into question Türkiye’s ability to be a reliable ally for the West. Erdoğan did not impose the same sanctions on Russian assets as the other Western nations did amidst the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian War. This has been one of the major reasons Türkiye is unable to obtain EU membership.
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