Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attended a BRICS leaders’ summit. File

Turkey was offered partner country status by the BRICS group of nations, Trade Minister Omer Bolat said, as Ankara continues what it calls its efforts to balance its Eastern and Western ties.

Turkey, a NATO member, has in recent months voiced interest in joining the BRICS group of emerging economies, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Ethiopia, Iran, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attended a BRICS leaders’ summit hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Kazan last month, after Ankara said it had taken formal steps to become a member of the group.

“As for Turkey’s status regarding (BRICS) membership, they offered Turkey the status of partner membership,” Bolat said in an interview with private broadcaster TVNet on Wednesday (November 13, 2024).

“This [status] is the transition process in the organisational structure of BRICS,” he said.

Ankara sees the BRICS group as an opportunity to further economic cooperation with member states, rather than an alternative to its Western ties and N.A.T.O. membership, Mr. Erdogan has said.

Turkish officials have repeatedly said potential membership of BRICS would not affect Turkey’s responsibilities to the Western military alliance.

Aside from full membership, BRICS members introduced a “partner country” category in Kazan, according to the declaration issued by BRICS on Oct. 23.

Mr. Bolat did not say whether Ankara had accepted the proposal.

An official in Erdogan’s ruling AK Party told Reuters this month that while the proposal had been discussed in Kazan, partner country status would fall short of Turkey’s demands for membership.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
| Photo Credit: AP

NATO member Turkiye has applied for membership in the BRICS bloc of developing economies, a senior Kremlin official said on Wednesday (September 4, 2024), as Russia and China seek to counter the West’s global influence.

Yuri Ushakov, President Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs aide, told reporters that Turkiye has submitted an application “for full membership” in the bloc that Russia this year chairs, and it will be considered.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stated several times that his country aspires to become a member of the BRICS alliance, according to Omer Celik, a spokesman for Erdogan’s ruling party. But Mr. Celik stopped short this week of confirming that Turkiye has applied formally.

The BRICS alliance was founded in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India and China, with South Africa joining in 2010. It recently has undergone an expansion, and now includes Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia has said it’s considering joining, and Azerbaijan and Malaysia have formally applied.

BRICS has a stated aim to amplify the voice of major emerging economies to counterbalance the Western-led global order. Its founding members have called for a fairer world order and the reform of international institutions like the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Mr. Erdogan, who has been in power for more than two decades, has sought to carve a more independent foreign policy for Turkiye and to enhance its global influence. The country is also frustrated by the lack of progress in its membership talks with the European Union.

Last week, Mr. Erdogan said Turkiye should “simultaneously” develop relations with both the East and the West.

Turkiye, which straddles Europe and Asia, joined the NATO military alliance in 1952. It began talks to join the European Union in 2005 but the negotiations have stalled due to concerns over democratic regression under Erdogan’s administration, and ongoing disputes with Cyprus, an EU member, among other challenges.

BRICS is expected to discuss taking in new members in a meeting in Russia next month.

Mr. Putin earlier this year welcomed Turkiye’s interest in the bloc and promised that Moscow “will support this aspiration and desire to be together with the countries of this alliance, to be together, closer, to solve common problems.”

On Monday, Mr. Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said Turkiye expressed interest in joining BRICS.