Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Wednesday Ankara was looking to diversify its options regarding global alliances, bringing up long-running ambitions for EU membership.
Amid growing rumours that Turkey wants to join the Russia-led BRICS alliance, the Mediterranean country’s top diplomat said the interest wouldn’t be there if Turkey was already an EU member state.
“Turkey acted on good intentions with regards to its ambitions for full EU membership,” since applying to join the bloc in 1987, Fidan said, but then the negotiations stalled. Now, Ankara is looking at other options, such as BRICS and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
“If our economic integration with the European Union had been crowned with membership, which is now (only) at the level of the Customs Union, maybe we would not be on such a search,” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Anadolu on Thursday.
Stating that “every country has to form economic, security and political alliances,” the Turkish top diplomat pointed to what he called “Turkey’s ancient statehood practices,” which also include “a very strong tradition of forming alliances”.
“We see that the power matrix is constantly evolving, especially in the current world where there are approximately 200 nation-state actors,” Fidan added.
“No country has the chance to handle crises in the world without forming an alliance, that is, without paying a huge price.”
BRICS states its aim is to amplify the voice of major emerging economies to counterbalance the Western-led global order. Founded in 2006, it included Russia, Brazil, India and China, with South Africa joining in 2010. Recently, it expanded to include Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the UAE. It is currently chaired by Moscow.
A summit of the alliance will be held in Russia’s Kazan in October, and Turkish representatives are expected to attend.
The West often sees BRICS as a possible counter to NATO, of which Turkey is a member.
