Turkey has formally applied to join the BRICS grouping of emerging-market nations, in a nod to a strategic realignment aimed at expanding its influence beyond traditional Western alliances. The move is targeted at putting Turkey-which feels frustration from a stalled European Union accession process and tensions with NATO allies-at the center of a multipolar world under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The bid-which joined the BRICs comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa-was presented several months ago, people familiar with the matter said in an interview. The move reflects Ankara’s wish to diversity its international relations in the economic and political dividends it gains by being part of a bloc representing most of the world’s largest emerging economies.
President Erdogan’s government considers this to be a necessity in the new international geopolitical game, an evolving transformation of which is pushed towards deviating centrality of power away from developed economies. The direction toward which its balancing factor will be addressed is one from BRICS; hence, placing Turkey in a position to benefit from the oncoming geopolitical shifts between the Eastern and Western powers.
Geopolitical Consequences and Relations with the West: Notwithstanding all its ambitions about BRICS, Turkey keeps its course towards the implementation of its commitments as one of the key members of NATO. Yet, some of the recent foreign policy decisions taken by Turkey caused certain rifts between it and some of its NATO peers.
The bid for BRICS membership also comes out of frustration with the lack of progress in its decades-old attempt to join the European Union. The BRICS grouping offers an alternative for Turkey to expand economic cooperation with major global players, such as Russia and China, and potentially become a trade conduit between the EU and Asia.
Erdogan’s Vision for the Global Role of Turkey: President Erdogan has always espoused a greater role for Turkey to play on the world stage. He advocates for the restructuring of the United Nations Security Council to increase its permanent membership representation and expressed interest in joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization founded by Russia and China as a counterbalance to NATO.
“We do not have to choose between the European Union and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization,” Erdogan said. “On the contrary, we have to develop our relations with both these and other organizations on a win-win basis.”
BRICS Expansion and Turkey’s Strategic Goals: BRICS has actively expanded its membership; the recent addition into the group includes Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, and Egypt. Further expansion might be on the table during the BRICS summit scheduled to take place in Kazan, Russia, this October, possibly along with an invitation for Turkey to join the bloc.
Ankara views BRICS membership as a chance to expand economic ties, particularly in the energy sector, with both Russia and China. The Erdogan administration has been attempting to attract investment by Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers, leveraging Turkey’s customs union with the EU for extended market reach.
While Turkey pursues its long-cherished goal of full membership within the European Union, this application for membership with BRICS falls under a greater scope of diversified international partnerships toward its rise as a global power. In the perspective of a transition to a multipolar world order, the active engagement of Turkey with BRICS could be an opportunity given for the repositioning of Turkey in the world theater, weighing commitments with NATO against new opportunities opening up in emerging markets.