Türkiye’s accession to BRICS is very important for all member states, according to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
"Undoubtedly, Türkiye's accession to BRICS is very important for all BRICS members. Türkiye is a major regional power which plays a very important role in global affairs. Therefore, everyone is interested in inviting Türkiye to this process," the Kremlin spokesperson told TRT World on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan held on Oct. 22-24.
"We seek to build relations with Türkiye as a country, not a NATO member," Peskov said with regard to claims that the country's membership in the alliance is incompatible with participation in BRICS.
"We have bad relations with NATO. NATO is our enemy. Now NATO is directly and indirectly involved in the war against our country. NATO architecture, its intelligence capabilities are being used against our country," the Kremlin spokesperson added.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan participated in the BRICS Summit in Kazan.
If admitted, it 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.
Ankara sees BRICS as an opportunity for more economic cooperation with member states, rather than an alternative to its Western ties and NATO membership.
The BRICS 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 European Union, at whose door Ankara has been knocking since 1999.
Erdoğan raised a similar point last month. "Those who say (don't join BRICS) are the same people who have kept Türkiye waiting at the EU's door for years," he said.
"We cannot cut ties with the Turkic and Islamic world just because we are a NATO country: BRICS and ASEAN are structures that offer us opportunities to develop economic cooperation," he said.
Speaking at the summit on Thursday, Erdoğan said Türkiye is "determined to further our dialogue with the BRICS family, with whom we have developed close relations based on mutual respect and win-win."
"The political and financial mechanisms that emerged after World War II cannot deliver what is expected of them," he told the delegates.
BRICS, he added, made a "unique contribution ... to the construction of a more just world" through "the development of global trade, economic growth and sustainable development goals."
BRICS is an acronym for its five founding members, although the alliance added four nations this year, three of which are from the Middle East, including Iran.
