BRICS offered Türkiye “partner country” status, according to Trade Minister Ömer Bolat.
In recent months, Türkiye, a NATO member, has voiced interest in joining the BRICS group of emerging economies, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Ethiopia, Iran, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended a BRICS leaders’ summit hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Kazan last month after Ankara said it had taken formal steps to become a full group member.
“As for Türkiye’s status regarding (BRICS) membership, they offered Türkiye the status of partner membership,” Bolat said in an interview with private broadcaster TVNet on Wednesday.
“This (status) is the transition process in the organizational structure of BRICS,” he said.
Ankara sees the BRICS group as an opportunity to further economic cooperation with member states rather than an alternative to its Western ties and NATO membership, Erdoğan has said.
Turkish officials have repeatedly said that the potential membership of BRICS would not affect Türkiye’s responsibilities to the Western military alliance.
Aside from full membership, BRICS members introduced a “partner country” category in Kazan, according to the declaration issued by BRICS on Oct. 23.
Bolat did not say whether Ankara had accepted the proposal.
An official in Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) told Reuters this month that while the proposal had been discussed in Kazan, partner country status would fall short of Türkiye’s demands for membership.
Bolat separately on Wednesday denied claims that India had blocked Türkiye’s full membership in BRICS because of Ankara’s close ties to rival Pakistan. “There is no question of India vetoing our membership,” Bolat said.
Erdoğan, in power for over two decades, has sought to carve a more independent foreign policy for Türkiye and enhance its global influence. The country, a NATO member, has been frustrated by the lack of progress in its membership talks with the European Union.
BRICS aims to amplify the voice of major emerging economies to counterbalance what it considers to be the Western-led global order. Its founding members have called for reforming international institutions like the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Member nations represent just under half of the world’s population and around a third of the global gross domestic product. As a “platform,” it does not impose binding economic obligations on members as does the EU, at whose door Ankara has been knocking since 1999.
If admitted, Türkiye would be the first NATO member to join the alliance, which sees itself as a counterweight to Western powers and whose members are sharply at odds with the West over several issues, notably the ongoing Mideast conflict.