Türkiye has officially applied to join BRICS, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said on Wednesday, confirming that the group’s member states will consider the bid.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also accepted the Kremlin’s invitation to attend the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan, set to take place on October 22-24, according to Ushakov. Russia is currently chairing the organization.
“Türkiye has submitted an application for full-fledged membership. We will consider it,” Ushakov told reporters.
Bloomberg reported on Monday that Ankara submitted an application to become part of BRICS “some months ago,” partially driven by “rifts” between Türkiye and the rest of NATO over the Ukraine conflict.
Türkiye is the first NATO state to seek membership in the non-Western BRICS group.
A spokesman for Erdogan’s ruling AK party, Omer Celik, later confirmed that the application process is underway and that Erdogan has stated “several times” that Türkiye aspires to become a BRICS member.
“Our request on this issue is clear. This process is ongoing. But there is no concrete development regarding this,” Celik told reporters. “Our president has clearly stated that Türkiye wants to take part in all important platforms, including BRICS.”
BRICS was founded in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India, and China, with South Africa joining in 2011. The group expanded this year when Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates became full members. More than 30 countries have already formally applied to join, according to Ushakov.
Meanwhile, Türkiye’s application has sparked concerns in the EU. The bloc’s spokesman Peter Stano reportedly said during a press conference in Brussels on Tuesday that as a candidate to join the EU, Ankara had to respect EU values and foreign policy preferences, despite having the right to choose which international organizations to join.
Türkiye was declared an EU candidate country in 1999 and has been in negotiations to join since 2005. However, the European Parliament suspended accession talks with the country in 2019 over alleged human rights violations. The Turkish leadership is reportedly growing frustrated over the lack of progress in its decades-long bid, according to Bloomberg.