Turkey’s bid for BRICS is a strategic and symbolic move, analysts say

Turkey’s request to join the BRICS alliance is a seemingly strategic and symbolic move as the Eurasian nation of 85 million establishes its influence and influence on the global stage.

“Our president has stated many times that we want to be a member of BRICS,” a spokesman for Turkey’s leading AK Party told reporters in September. “Our request in this matter is clear, and the process is carried out within this framework.”

BRICS, which stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is a group of emerging market countries seeking to expand economic ties. This year, it gained four new members: Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the UAE.

It is also seen as a counterweight to Western-led organizations like the EU, G7 and even NATO, although they lack formal structures, enforcement mechanisms, and uniform rules and standards.

For Turkey, a long-time ally of the West and a member of NATO since 1952, the move to join the BRICS “is in line with a broader geopolitical journey: positioning itself as an independent actor in a multi-polar world and even becoming its own pole of power. Right,” George Dyson, senior analyst at Control Risks, told CNBC.

“This does not mean that Turkey has completely avoided the West,” added Dyson, “but Turkey wants to develop trade relations as much as possible and pursue opportunities unilaterally without being limited by Western alignment. It is certainly symbolic in Turkey. It shows exactly this – that it is not limited by relations good with the West.”

Despite decades of alignment with Europe and the US, Turkey has faced consistent refusal to join the EU, which has long been a sore point for Ankara.

Ambassador Matthew Bryza, a former White House and State Department official now based in Istanbul, said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government “seem to be motivated mainly by two factors: The strategic tradition of securing national interests … the desire to provoke the West somewhat , because of emotions and as a negotiating tactic to extract concessions.”

CNBC has contacted the Turkish presidency’s office for comment.

Turkey has in the past few years expanded its role in global diplomacy, making prisoner exchange deals and leading other negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, for example, while also repairing previously strained relations with regional powers like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and most recently. , Egypt.

Ankara has also refused to participate in sanctions against Russia – a stance that upsets its Western allies but helps maintain its independent position as a “central power”, which it considers useful for its relations with China and the Global South.

To that end, “any new BRICS member is clearly eager to take advantage of the stronger ‘togetherness’ of emerging economies to reduce dependence on advanced economies, especially the United States,” said Arda Tunca, an independent economist and consultant based in Turkey. . .

Tunca noted, however, that Turkey’s unique position in the world is a “soft point of discussion” because the country has “serious political problems with the EU and the United States” despite its western alliance.

Turkey’s ruling party, which has run the country for 22 years, is “ideologically closer to the East than the West,” Tunca said. “Turkey wanted to jump on the BRICS train before it was too late. It is too early to say that BRICS can be an alternative to the West, but the intention is clear to stand up against the West under the leadership of China.”

Importantly, being part of BRICS allows its members to trade in currencies other than the dollar. It aims to reduce dependence on the US-led system and enter a more polar world. The fact that it is being led by China has some in the West wary, who see it as a potential win for Beijing.

“I don’t think there’s any enforcement of the (BRICS) decision, it’s more about geopolitics, as a symbolic counter to the G7,” Dyson said. He also noted: “It’s interesting that Iran and the UAE are both. It’s like an anti-Western team.”

Erdogan has talked about his desire to join BRICS since at least 2018, but the issue has never been formalized. In June, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan visited China and Russia, the latter for the BRICS+ summit, while Russian President Vladimir Putin said he “welcomed” Turkey’s interest in joining the bloc.

At the time, the US ambassador to Turkey, Jeff Flake, said in an interview that he hoped Turkey would not join the group, but added that he did not think it would affect Turkey’s alignment with the West.