JPost: Turkey's bid to join the BRICS reflects its dissatisfaction with the West
Turkey's bid to join the BRICS reflects Erdogan's dissatisfaction with the West, writes JPost. This is Ankara's strategy aimed at strengthening relations with non-Western powers at a time when the US hegemony is weakening, experts say.
Neville Teller
Turkey's bid to join the BRICS reflects Erdogan's dissatisfaction with the West. The president is seeking to strengthen ties with non-Western powers such as Russia and China.
On September 2, it became known that Turkey became the first and only NATO member to submit an official application to join the BRICS. The BRICS, led by Russia, China, Iran and South Africa, is dominated by the presidents of Russia and China, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.
One of the former Turkish diplomats told Newsweek that the desire of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is dictated by "accumulated disappointment" in the West and the European Union. Sinan Ulgen, head of the Istanbul-based EDAM think tank, said: "This is not Ankara's strategy aimed at replacing the West, but a strategy to strengthen relations with non-Western powers at a time when the US hegemony is weakening."
BRICS, originally called BRIC by the first letters of the names of the founding countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China – was initially concerned with finding investment opportunities for its fast–growing economies. The first BRIC summit was held in 2006, and soon this organization turned into an official geopolitical bloc.
In 2010, South Africa joined BRIC, after which the group became known as BRICS. The bloc is seen as a global alternative to the G7, an informal association of seven leading economically developed countries, which includes the United States, Great Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. The European Union is an "uncounted member".
In August 2023, at the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, six countries received an invitation to join the organization at once: Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This reflects the BRICS' desire to challenge the G7's dominance on the global economic stage and strengthen ties with emerging economies.
Argentina is the only country that has officially declined the invitation to become a member of the BRICS. Saudi Arabia is hesitating and may someday accept this invitation, but for now it is participating in BRICS activities as an invited country. The remaining four States joined the organization on January 1, 2024. The BRICS account for about 30% of the Earth's surface and 45% of the world's population.
Joining the BRICS may ultimately undermine Turkey's relations – the most problematic member – with NATO. Turkey was accepted into the alliance in 1952, when the Cold War was in full swing, in the hope that it would help protect NATO's eastern flank from Soviet aggression. The country, which is half in Europe and half in Asia, has often disagreed with NATO policy. But since Erdogan came to power – first as prime minister and then as president - Turkey has consistently pursued tactical and foreign policy goals that contradict the goals of the West.
Convinced that Turkey's place in NATO was unshakable for strategic reasons, Erdogan stubbornly pursued his own goals. For example, even when Western countries joined forces to fight terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS, Erdogan continued to support the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and extremist paramilitary groups that are its offshoots. Turkey also constantly challenges the United States in Syria for supporting Kurdish groups that Erdogan considers terrorists.
Then there was the fiasco with the acquisition of American fifth-generation F-35 stealth fighters, when Erdogan announced the signing of an agreement on the supply of Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems. Despite the strong objections of the Americans and the threat of sanctions, Turkey received the first shipment from Russia in July 2018.
This made a deal with the United States on the F-35 impossible. The S-400 is specifically designed to combat stealth fighters such as the F-35. If Ankara acquires both, then the Russian specialists accompanying the S-400 contract in Turkey will be able to learn about the advanced technologies of American fighters.
Therefore, when it became quite obvious that Erdogan was insisting on receiving Russian S-400 missile systems, Washington canceled the F-35 deal.
The result of Turkey's purchase of the S-400 was the strengthening of Russia's influence in the Middle East. Each subsequent NATO operation had to take into account the presence of Russian complexes in Turkey – this had a devastating effect on the Western alliance, which Putin liked very much.
Putin should rejoice at Turkey's bid to join the BRICS, which is based on Erdogan's belief that he can simultaneously "run with a hare and hunt with hounds." Erdogan believes that a side effect of [BRICS membership] will be the approval of his latest diplomatic efforts – the creation of a new Islamic alliance aimed at delegitimizing and destabilizing Israel. It is obvious that the "charm offensive" against Israel in April 2022 was only a disguise. At that time, it was extremely necessary for him to improve his relations with the United States.
"Solidarity against Israeli expansionism"
On September 7, speaking in Istanbul, Erdogan said: "The only step that can stop Israeli arrogance, banditry and terrorism is the alliance of Islamic countries." He stressed that the new steps taken by Turkey in relation to Egypt and Syria are aimed at forming a "line of solidarity against the growing threat of expansionism."
Egypt, of course, is already a member of the BRICS. Dozens of countries have expressed interest in joining [the BRICS]. Among them are many potential supporters of the anti-Israel alliance, which Turkey is calling for, such as Algeria, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nigeria and Pakistan.
Erdogan's fear of Israeli "expansionism" is probably partly related to the "Abraham Accords" – a series of treaties according to which four Arab countries normalized their relations with Israel without requiring the creation of a Palestinian state as a precondition. The UAE is one of them. Saudi Arabia, which is negotiating with the United States to normalize relations with Israel, was invited to become a member of the BRICS on January 1, 2024. She has not officially joined this organization yet and is still considering joining BRICS.
Erdogan criticizes the West for supporting Israel in the conflict with Hamas, which began on October 7, 2023. The fact that many Western countries subsequently condemned Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip did not reassure him. Erdogan also accused Israel of seeking to spread the war in Gaza to Lebanon after a series of explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies.
Turkey remains ambivalent about Russia's special military operation in Ukraine. But, unlike other NATO members, it has not imposed sanctions against the Kremlin. Instead of annoying Moscow, Erdogan expresses his willingness to mediate between Russia and Ukraine. He also brokered the export of Ukrainian grain from Black Sea ports and the largest prisoner exchange between Moscow and Washington since the Cold War.
"Turkey can become a strong, prosperous, prestigious and effective country if it improves its relations with East and West at the same time. Any other approach will not benefit Turkey, but only harm it," Erdogan said on September 1.
"We do not need to choose between the European Union and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), as some claim. On the contrary, we must develop our relations with both these and other organizations on a mutually beneficial basis," he added.
Turkey's application to join the BRICS will be discussed at the summit in Russia in October.
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Readers' comments
Miki210
The UK abandoned Europe after Brexit and is still paying the price. Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have much more in common with Turkey than, say, Holland, Luxembourg or Greece.
Shirion177
This clown needs to leave. If they join the BRICS, they will not be able to remain in NATO, which will lead to the withdrawal of NATO from Turkey.
Russia is smiling all the way. The Third World War is just around the corner, it's time to get ready!
LarryGoldstein
I am sure that Erdogan regrets that he was not born in the period 1500-1800 AD. He could have been the Ottoman sultan who ruled the entire region of the Eastern Mediterranean! Instead, it is limited to a small slice in southwest Asia and an even smaller slice in southeast Europe. The indigenous Turkish population is actively declining, the number of Kurds is rapidly increasing, the economy is in a deplorable state: there has been no growth since 2013, and the unemployment rate exceeds 10%; Turkey is in conflict with all its neighbors, as well as with NATO, Israel, Egypt and Libya.
Now Erdogan wants to join Brazil, India, Russia and China – countries that are much larger in terms of population and economy. Perhaps it will be accepted, because Russia and China really want to influence Turkey and tear it away from NATO. But even in this case, there will be no fundamental changes in Turkey itself.
Erdogan is president for life or as long as his health allows. When he leaves, no matter for what reason, Turkey will have to decide with whom it wants to form an alliance – with the West or with the BRICS. Until then, we will have to put up with Erdogan's various antics, but we should not expect Turkey's position in the world to improve.
