Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is set to attend a meeting of top diplomats from BRICS member states next week, following remarks in which he expressed interest in joining BRICS, multiple media outlets reported on Tuesday.
BRICS is an international organization that was originally made up of five countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, from which it takes its name. In January, BRICS welcomed Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as members. It also welcomed Saudi Arabia, which had not yet completed the necessary procedures for full membership as of February.
BRICS Platform present BRICS is itself a challenge to the US-led world order and an alternative to other international platforms in which the US and other Western countries play a key role. BRICS members, such as China and Russia, advocate for their geopolitical interests at the UN and other forums and propose mutually beneficial trade deals. BRICS members also use the platform to seek alternative currencies for foreign trade and to weaken the US dollar.
“Of course, we want to be a member of BRICS, so let’s see what happens this year,” Fidan was quoted as saying. Said Speaking at an event in Beijing on Monday, Fidan called BRICS “a good alternative to the European Union,” and reportedly complained that the EU has not fully embraced Turkey as a result of “identity politics,” forcing Ankara to explore other options.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan during a group photo of NATO foreign ministers at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, April 3, 2024. (Representative Photo by Johanna Geron via The Associated Press)
“I believe BRICS has potential,” Fidan was quoted as saying.
According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Turkey’s possible BRICS membership will be on the agenda of a meeting of BRICS foreign ministers next week. Confirmed The summit will be held on Tuesday. Russia is hosting both the summit and this year’s BRICS summit.
“Of course, we welcome the growing interest in BRICS from our neighbours, including an important partner like Turkey,” Peskov told reporters, according to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency, using Ankara’s preferred spelling of the country’s name.
“BRICS is interested in maintaining contacts with all interested countries. To this end, various formats for maintaining contacts are currently being considered,” Peskov continued. “This is a slow process, but we welcome such strong interest.”
FILE/Turkish intelligence chief (MIT) Hakan Fidan waits for a meeting with a Russian delegation in Istanbul, Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Turkey and Russia signed an intergovernmental agreement on a project to transport gas from Russia to Turkey. The gas will then be distributed to European Union countries. (AP Photo/Emra Güler)
Turkey has expressed interest in joining BRICS long before a second wave of members joined this year. Turkey’s Islamist president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, attended the 2018 BRICS summit in South Africa and publicly stated his hope that Ankara could one day join BRICS. Apply Turkey, however, has been largely ignored in reports of the negotiations that have seen the four new countries join the coalition.
If approved, Turkey would become the first NATO ally to join the BRICS alliance, potentially complicating Turkey’s relations with the West. Russia was once a NATO partner, but that partnership was suspended “following the North Atlantic Council decision on the security environment.” Egypt participates in the Mediterranean Dialogue, and the UAE is a member of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative. Both forums aim to provide a platform for NATO to maintain friendly relations with non-member countries.
French President Emmanuel Macron Floated He had hoped to be invited to the BRICS summit in 2023, but his proposals have mostly been met with confusion. Disgust.
BRICS primarily functions as a forum for aligning its member nations’ interests on the international stage. While it has achieved some policy successes, the diverse pursuits of the group’s members have led to discord, particularly between India and China, which has been hampered by repeated Chinese attempts to colonize Indian territory and has become one of the most combative great power relationships in the world.
The two armies fought over the Himalayan mountains in India’s Ladakh region in 2020, with Indian troops claiming to have killed twice as many People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers as Indian troops. China has continued to irritate India since the fighting by publishing “official” maps that show parts of India behind China’s border.
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, left, and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan attend the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia have also raised international concerns, as the two countries fought a proxy war in Yemen for years before being invited to join BRICS. The Chinese Communist Party attempted to head off any rifts by brokering an agreement announced between the two countries in March 2023, promising to normalize relations, reopen embassies in each other’s capitals, and maintain diplomatic communications.
Turkish Foreign Minister Fidan is currently on a short visit to China, stopping first in Beijing, followed by Kashgar and Urumqi in occupied East Turkestan. While China is currently committing genocide against the indigenous people of East Turkestan, most of whom are Turkic Uighurs, Ankara has largely silenced its criticism of Beijing’s mistreatment of the Uighurs since its 2015 decision to join China’s global infrastructure initiative, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
While Erdogan has previously openly accused China of committing genocide against ethnic Turks, Fidan, at press conferences on Monday and Tuesday, appeared intent on expanding ties with China and covering up Chinese atrocities in East Turkestan.
