Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan attends the BRICS+ meeting of the two-day BRICS Foreign Ministers' Summit in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, on June 11, 2024.
Sefa Karakan | Anatolia | Getty Images
Turkey's request to join the BRICS alliance is seen as a strategic and symbolic move as the Eurasian country of 85 million people continues to advance in influence and influence on the global stage.
“Our president has stated many times that we want to be a member of the BRICS,” a spokesman for Turkey's leading Justice and Development Party told reporters in early September. “Our demands on this matter are clear and the entire process is taking place within this framework.”
BRICS, representing Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is a group of emerging market countries seeking to deepen economic ties. This year, it added four new members: Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates.
It is also seen as a counterweight to Western-led organizations such as the European Union, the G7 and even NATO, although it lacks formal structures, enforcement mechanisms and unified rules and standards.
For Turkey, which has been a Western ally and NATO member since 1952, the move to join the BRICS “is in line with its broader geopolitical journey: to position itself as an independent actor in a multipolar world, even to become its own “Yes,” George Dyson, senior analyst at Control Risks, told CNBC.
Dyson added: “This is not to say that Turkey is turning away from the West completely, but that Turkey wants to establish as many trade relations as possible and pursue opportunities unilaterally without the constraints of Western alliances. This is absolutely symbolic. Exactly Proof of this – it is not limited by good relations with the West.
Alliance Diversity
Turkey's rejection of EU membership, despite decades of alliances with Europe and the United States, has long been a sore point for Ankara.
Ambassador Matthew Breza, a former senior White House and State Department official currently based in Istanbul, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government “seem to be primarily driven by two factors: ensuring national interests.” strategic tradition…and a desire to frighten the West, both out of emotional resentment and as a negotiating tactic to force concessions from the West.
CNBC has contacted the Turkish president's office for comment.
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a joint press conference in Sochi, Russia, September 4, 2023.
Getty Images News | Getty Images
Ankara has also refused to participate in sanctions against Russia – a stance that has angered its Western allies but helps it maintain its independent status as a so-called “middle power” and believes it benefits its relations with China and the global south.
To this end, Arda Tonka, a Turkish independent economist and consultant, said, “Any new BRICS member will obviously be eager to take advantage of the stronger 'solidarity' of emerging economies to reduce its negative influence on developed economies (mainly the United States). dependence.
Confrontation with the West?
Tonka noted, however, that Turkey's unique position in the world was a “delicate point of discussion” because despite the country's alliance with the West, it had “serious political problems with the EU and the United States.”
Tunka said that Turkey's ruling party has been in power for 22 years and is “ideologically closer to the East than to the West.” “Turkey wants to get on the BRICS train before it is delayed. It is too early to say that BRICS can become an alternative to the West, but the intention is clearly to confront the West under the leadership of China.”
Importantly, as part of the BRICS, its members can transact in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. This move aims to reduce dependence on the US-dominated system and usher in a more multipolar world. The fact that it is led by China has alarmed some in the West, who see it as a potential victory for Beijing.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (not seen) is welcomed by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the 11th G20 Leaders' Summit in Hangzhou, China, September 3, 2016 .
Muhammad Ali Ozkan | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Dyson said: “I don't think their (BRICS) decisions will be implemented in any way, it is more of a geopolitical issue and a symbolic opposition to the G7.” He also pointed out: “Interestingly, Iran and the UAE are in it. It's a bit of an anti-Western team.”
Erdogan has expressed a desire to join the BRICS since at least 2018, but the issue has never been formalized. In June, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan visited China and Russia, where the latter participated in the BRICS+ summit, during which Russian President Vladimir Putin said he “welcomed” Turkey's interest in joining the group. .
At that time, Jeff Flake, the then U.S. Ambassador to Türkiye, said in an interview, He hopes Türkiye will not join the organization But he added that he did not think it would have a negative impact on Turkey's alliance with the West.