Turkey continues to maneuver between East and West and seeks economic benefits from cooperation with all sides. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had the confidence to declare his desire to join BRICS when he personally arrived at the BRICS summit in Kazan.
Previously, Turkish leaders have repeatedly spoken about the desire to join BRICS. In 2023, after the expansion of the circle of BRICS members, it seemed that Ankara paid more attention to BRICS. As Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan emphasized during his visit to China in June 2024, Ankara is exploring new opportunities for cooperation with several partners on different platforms such as BRICS. Then, last September, Türkiye officially applied to join BRICS.
Ankara’s opportunities and approach
Turkey has multiple motives and reasons for joining BRICS including geopolitics, economic development, access to alternative financial institutions, political independence, geostrategic interests, and increasing international influence.
Geopolitical motives are an important part of Türkiye’s motives for joining BRICS. The ruling party and Erdogan have announced their intention to turn Türkiye into a superpower.
In this context, BRICS is a great platform in which emerging players have been gathering. Turkey is an East-West country and simultaneously participates in many forms and mechanisms of international cooperation.
From this point of view, considering Turkey’s geostrategic position and playing the role of a bridge between Asia and the West, Ankara’s entry into BRICS will not only limit Turkey but will also develop its security and political cooperation, global partnerships, and foreign policy capabilities.
In fact, full membership and cooperation can serve Erdoğan’s foreign policy (a combination of the Ottoman, and national-Islamic approach) which is independent of the West.
Also, Turkey’s other motivations for participating in BRICS are moving towards a more equitable distribution of power and wealth in the world, a more inclusive political and economic order, diversity in international relations, and preparation for a multipolar world.
BRICS can serve Turkey to improve its position in the geopolitical order that is changing towards multipolarity and an opportunity in foreign policy to influence the existing alliances and economic structures while participating in the balance of power in the world system. In fact, Türkiye’s expanding cooperation with BRICS, along with ASEAN, NATO, and the European Union, etc., increases the country’s multidimensional global influence.
BRICS can serve Türkiye’s geopolitical positions and international approach based on more pragmatism to strengthen cooperation with Eurasia. Türkiye’s membership in BRICS can be a prelude to permanent membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
In addition, many in Türkiye are disappointed with the West for reasons such as the double standards of the West. Türkiye’s official request to join the BRICS group is also a kind of protest and disappointment to enter the European Union.
This approach and Türkiye’s membership plan in BRICS may even force the European Union to re-evaluate Türkiye’s membership.
The possible joining of this country to “BRICS” is beneficial not only for Ankara but also for the old and new BRICS members. In the geo-economic dimension, BRICS can benefit Türkiye in several areas and strengthen this country economically.
Erdoğan previously announced that Türkiye will become a logistics superpower by 2053. In this regard, Turkey’s joining BRICS can help strengthen Turkey’s position as a trade, energy, and logistic center between East and West (strategic position between Europe and Asia and access to Africa) with the largest number of connections.
Every country has the right to create multilateral global partnerships to strengthen and diversify economic cooperation. Türkiye’s recent interest in BRICS is in line with this approach.
From Ankara’s point of view, BRICS is not an alternative cooperation platform, but a complementary and structural cooperation to contribute to equitable growth and the formation of a fairer global economy.
The internal trade of the old BRICS countries has reached more than doubled from 2002 to 2022 and reached 40%. Turkey’s possible membership in BRICS can facilitate trade relations with old and new countries in the framework of the One-Belt, One-Road Initiative and create more economic opportunities in the southern part of the world such as Africa.
Considering the approach of BRICS in the field of de-dollarization and an alternative payment system for SWIFT, it can somehow serve Ankara’s economic relations with BRICS members, sanctioned countries, and countries in the region to create settlement mechanisms in national currencies and reduce dependence on the Western-oriented system.
According to the type of attitude of Türkiye in the economic model based on investment attraction, BRICS and the new BRICS Bank can practically create a new source of financing and investment in Türkiye.
Challenges
A full member of BRICS in the future, Türkiye would be the first NATO member country to join BRICS. Full membership in BRICS could deepen the rift between Ankara and the West. An important volume of Türkiye’s foreign trade is conducted with EU countries. Therefore, the indirect approaches of the European Union and the United States indicate that Ankara may face unprecedented pressure from the West.
The West does not completely hide its opposition to Ankara’s growing interest in BRICS. The joining of a NATO member country as an official member of BRICS may also face more opposition from the West.
The Turkish opposition, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), and strong pro-Western groups in Turkey, through political opposition, may also create significant obstacles to joining BRICS domestically.
It seems that there are still challenges for Türkiye’s full membership in BRICS. Nearly 20 other countries have also applied for BRICS membership. However, accepting a new member in this group is based on the consensus and agreement of all members. Some actors such as Brazil and India are hesitant to add members.
Some others like South Africa want to take a position close to non-commitment. Differences of opinion could stop the rapid expansion of BRICS and the addition of new members for the time being.
Although previously, the Russian president praised Türkiye’s increasing engagement with BRICS. But due to the alignment in Kashmir and the strong military relations between Turkey and Pakistan and the long-standing political conflicts between New Delhi and Ankara, India can be a major obstacle to Turkey’s participation in BRICS.
It also seems that Türkiye needs the full agreement of China to become a member of BRICS.
Perspective
Many see BRICS as a symbolic counterweight against Western-oriented organizations. Certainly, the possible presence of Türkiye as the 19th largest economy in the world is a kind of strengthening of the balance weight against the Group of Seven led by the West.
Serious obstacles including political, internal, and economic challenges and external pressure from the West may make Ankara’s entry into BRICS difficult. However, it seems that if Turkey’s insistence on increasing its strategic independence in foreign policy continues and the internal obstacles of BRICS are removed, Turkey’s full membership in BRICS can be reached.
The strategic value of Türkiye may cause the countries that agree with Ankara to somehow bring the opposing countries within BRICS with them to soften their standards and position.
BRICS has no joint peacekeeping force, is not yet similar to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and countries have different economic, political, and foreign policy priorities. This can reduce the volume of internal and external opposition to Türkiye’s entry into BRICS. Although Türkiye’s membership is not imminent, it is probably available in the medium term.
Samyar Rostami is a political observer and senior researcher in international relations, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”
