Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat said Thursday that his country has been offered “the status of partner membership” by BRICS, the China-dominated economic bloc whose founding members also include Russia, India, and Brazil.
Bolat said the offer was made when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended the October BRICS summit hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Kazan, Russia. One of the top agenda items for the meeting was creating a BRICS “digital payment platform” that would displace the U.S. dollar as the preferred medium of international exchange.
According to Bolat, Turkey’s “status of partner” would be only a “transitional” phase in the “organizational structure of BRICS,” implying that full membership could be in the cards – a prospect Turkey’s Western partners in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) find deeply alarming.
BRICS created the “partner country” status at the summit in Kazan, extending it to 13 nations, including Belarus, Cuba, Thailand, and Turkey.
BRICS was established in 2009. South Africa joined a year later, adding the “S” to the end of the group’s acronym. The first subsequent expansion of membership was conducted in 2023, when Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Ethiopia, and Argentina were invited to join. Argentina declined the invitation, while the Saudis are still mulling their invitation over.
Erdogan previously indicated that “partner” status would not be enough to entice him to join BRICS, although he has been happy to address BRICS meetings and use the group’s soapbox to promote his own political agenda. The Turkish president has expressed interest in full membership, in part because he would enjoy having BRICS and NATO compete for his affections.
Olmert did not say whether Erdogan would accept or reject the current offer of partnership status. The trade minister previously praised BRICS as a “center of resistance against the West’s desire to rule the world in a hegemonic way.”
India is reportedly cool on the idea of bringing Turkey into BRICS because Turkey has a close relationship with India’s rival Pakistan. Last month, Turkey challenged reports that said India used its influence as a founding member to block an offer of full membership to Turkey.
“There is no question of India vetoing our membership,” Bolat said Wednesday, once again denying rumors of India’s displeasure.
