Ankara, new geopolitical advances. From BRICS to BRICST
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on the leaders of the BRICS nations, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to let his country join the association. "If you take us in the name of the platform would become BRICST, I said," he told reporters in South Africa’s Johannesburg, where the BRICS leaders held a summit, on July 27.
His initiative was welcomed by the BRICS members. "Especially China says that it stands in favor of enlargement. I have seen that they are considering involving other countries in this platform. They are not opposed to it," Erdogan told.
Erdoğan said he anticipates further collaborations between BRICS countries and Turkey in economic matters in his address at the 10th BRICS summit, proposing to form a “new credit-rating agency” to “strengthen the south-south collaboration” in the global political economy. The collaboration to be formed between the BRICS countries and Turkey could be transformed into a collaboration in forming a “new and impartial international credit rating agency,” Erdoğan said. “As Turkey, we would like to work with BRICS countries, especially in the fields of economy, trade and development. I think that we can form new collaborations between Turkish institutions and the BRICS New Development Bank [NDB] and Business Council,” Erdoğan said at the 10th BRICS summit in South Africa’s financial capital Johannesburg.
Erdoğan defined the current global system as “a system that satisfies nobody except a minority whose interests are guaranteed,” and pointed a need for a change. It is impossible for this structure to continue without a change made in accordance with the necessities of the current circumstances. Reflecting the weight of emerging economies to the system is a must,” he said.
He emphasized that they carefully watched the role that BRICS would like to undertake in the "south-south cooperation," highlighting that Turkey is one of the leading countries in the world in the field of development aid which is the most important element of this cooperation. "With the help of official development assistance of $8.2 billion last year, we were among the top-ranking countries in this area. In humanitarian aid, on the other hand, we come first by a long shot," Erdoğan noted. Stressing that Turkey provides the most aid in all categories in proportion to national income, Erdoğan said today the country is home to more than 4 million asylum seekers, including 3.5 million from Syria and Iraq. "In an environment where many developed Western countries have condemned refugees to barbed wires, Turkey has spent $32 billion on asylum seekers," Erdoğan highlighted.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, speaking to reporters early Saturday in Johannesburg after the BRICS summit in South Africa, said that the summit on Syria and the wider region scheduled for Sept. 7 in Istanbul will be attended by the most senior representatives of Russia, France and Germany. This summit will start a parallel process that will contribute to the Astana process that was launched last year by Turkey, Russia and Iran. The Istanbul summit on Sept. 7 will allow all four countries to take up a wide-ranging set of issues, including Iraq, he said, while noting that the Syria-focused Tehran meeting was the continuation of the Astana process.
Turkey's relationship with China is becoming closer and multidimensional, the president said, adding that during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, they had the opportunity to discuss further expanding political, military and economic ties. Erdoğan also said he invited Xi to Turkey.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had a one-on-one meeting on Thursday with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Johannesburg, on the sidelines of ongoing BRICS summit.
