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Turkey's aspiration for membership in the organization created by Russia and China

2024-07-04 19:32:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Turkey's aspiration for membership in the organization created by Russia

Mr. Erdogan among the guests at the meeting in Kazakhstan of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Source, Reuters

The forum on security and defense in Eurasia, which Moscow and Beijing see as a means of countering Western influence, closed today. The meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was held in Astana, Kazakhstan. Particular attention has been paid to Turkey and its aspirations for membership in the BRICS organization, goals that are supported by Russian President Putin.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization was established in 2001 by China, Russia and four former Soviet republics, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and was later joined by India, Pakistan and Iran.

Russia's neighbor and ally, Belarus, became the newest member on Thursday. Among the countries with observer status and dialogue partners are Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was given the opportunity to talk closely with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Analysts say Turkey's desire to join BRICS, an economic union of countries like Russia and China, along with other countries from Asia, Africa and South America, was also on the agenda.

"The idea of ??a new platform, which would develop mutual trade between countries that are geographically separated, is attractive to Turkey and is in line with its foreign policy. I think it was a message to Putin that Turkey has no intention of abandoning the growing trade relations with Russia" , says Atilla Yesilada, political analyst at the firm "GlobalSource Partners".

Russian President Putin maintains close ties with Turkish President Erdogan, but has warned Turkey against its recent rapprochement with traditional Western allies. Mr. Putin is a strong supporter of Turkey's membership in the BRICS organization.

Analysts say this is part of Moscow's strategy to balance Beijing's efforts to dominate trade.

"BRICS is like China's backyard, as all the countries that have been invited are countries with which China wants to maintain better relations, thus bypassing Russia, India and other powers" , says Ceren Ergenc, analyst at the Center for European Policy Studies.

Turkey's application to the BRICS organization comes after decades of attempts to join the European Union continue to be unsuccessful, due to human rights concerns. This kind of impasse hurts Turkey's ability to trade, prompting President Erdogan to look for other alternatives.

"The fact that he was very angry with the EU that is not progressing with Turkey's membership and has not set a date for this played a role," says Mr. Yesilada.

This is consistent with Turkey's general political objectives of not being engaged in a particular political bloc, in the West or in the East.

Mr. Erdogan, however, is expected to participate next week in the NATO high-level meeting in Washington, where he must reaffirm the commitments undertaken with the West in the field of security.

But analysts say that Turkey's request for membership in the BRICS organization serves as an uncomfortable reminder that Ankara continues to see beyond traditional Western allies as opportunities to realize its objectives./ VOA