BRICS Rejects Full-Time Membership to Turkey; Ankara Dejected

Turkey’s aspirations to be a permanent member of the BRICS seem a distant dream as of now. Recep Erdogan, the President of Turkey expressed his desire to see Turkey become a full-time member of the BRICS during the recently concluded BRICS summit. The Executive Director for the National Committee for BRICS research stated that Turkey’s inclusion as a permanent member is not possible as of now.

The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit was held in Johannesburg between July 25 and July 27. Recep Erdogan, the Turkish President called upon the BRICS to make Turkey a full-time associate of the BRICS. The official stated that BRICS as of now is not looking to expand and grant membership to new nations.

He stated that the BRICS will not expand until there is a fine-tuned mechanism within the group making the BRICS capable of making new agreements. He further stated that at present things are quite complicated and if new members join then it will be very difficult for BRICS to have any agreements.

BRICS is reviewing the request made by different nations seeking a membership from BRICS but no steps are being made as of now. BRICS has no intentions to expand and have new nations on board as of now.

BRICS was founded by Brazil, Russia, China and India and 2006 and it was in 2010 that South Africa became a part of the BRICS. The name was then modified from being ‘BRIC’ to “BRICS.’ Besides Turkey, Argentina, Afghanistan, Mexico, Lebanon and Indonesia have shown great interest in being full-time members of the BRICS. A long list of other nations to have expressed their desires to be a part of the group.

In 2015 BRICS nations represented over 3.1 billion people which makes up about 41% of the global population. Four out of the 5 BRICS nations are among the 10 most populated nations of the world.

More News at EurAsian Times