After returning from the United Nations Summit in New York, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has the BRICS summit in Russia on his schedule for October.
“I convey my best wishes to the President of the Republic of Türkiye, Mr. Erdoğan. I am waiting for him in Russia, in Kazan. We had planned a bilateral meeting for Oct. 23,” Russian President Vladimir Putin told Numan Kurtulmuş, the speaker of the Turkish Parliament, who visited Moscow a few days ago. Erdoğan and Putin are expected to make progress on Türkiye's application for membership in BRICS.
The development is not only important for Türkiye. As a NATO member, the country has deep political, economic and legal ties with the European Union. This special position differentiates Türkiye from countries already distant from the Western bloc, such as Malaysia, Thailand and Azerbaijan, which also want to join the union.
Named after Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the BRICS grouping welcomed four new members earlier this year with the addition of Iran, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Ethiopia and Egypt. Saudi Arabia has also been invited to join.
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the economic size of BRICS has exceeded $29.5 trillion with the five new countries that joined this year. Its share in the global economy has reached 40%. BRICS, which is expected to expand further at its summit on Oct. 23-24, describes itself as an alternative to Western-dominated institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF. But it promises not only to provide its members with access to finance, potentially through a development bank. The group also aims to expand political and trade relations among its members.
Everyone is aware that BRICS is a balancing act against the West, which has been pulling the strings in the post-World War II world order. Because even though BRICS is an economic organization, it has the potential to lead to radical changes in world politics in the medium and long term.
The petro-dollar deal, which has been one of the main pillars of U.S. hegemony in the world for years, is among the first among those who will get their share of the possible change. As is well known, when it became clear that the U.S. government would not be able to redeem the dollar in gold, an agreement was made between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia in 1972-1973. According to this agreement, the U.S. would protect the sovereignty of the royal family and the Saudis would sell oil in dollars only. Any country or organization that wanted to buy oil had to give dollars in return, which had to be found somewhere. The pricing of oil in dollars became the strongest basis for the international demand for the dollar, and therefore the strongest basis for its continued status as a reserve currency. Because the world's demand for energy was constantly increasing, the demand for oil was decisive. Soon, other OPEC countries also started to accept only dollars in exchange for oil.
OPEC members are the majority in BRICS. In the future, other OPEC members such as Venezuela are likely to join.
Moreover, the U.S. dollar is the only currency used not only in the oil trade but also in the purchase and sale of all kinds of goods in international markets. If BRICS members use their own currencies instead of the U.S. dollar in their trade relations, it will shake the system that keeps the U.S. afloat.
As for Türkiye's contribution to BRICS due to its special position...
Located at the crossroads between the East and the West, Türkiye occupies a highly strategic geography. It is the only country in the region with a Western-style democracy, making its position at the crossroads of the busiest trade routes all the more valuable.
Türkiye, whose legal and political system is integrated with the EU, played a major role in keeping contacts between the two blocs intact during the Russian-Ukrainian war. Peace-building processes such as the prisoner swap and the grain corridor agreement were fulfilled thanks to Ankara's policy of balance.
President Erdoğan, who has gained the world's appreciation and trust with his active position in all these processes, underlines that they are approaching BRICS with a similar perspective: “Just because we are a NATO country, we cannot cut our ties with the Turkic world and the Islamic world. BRICS and ASEAN are structures that offer opportunities for us to develop our economic cooperation. Taking part in these structures does not mean giving up on NATO. We do not think that these alliances and cooperations are alternatives to each other. Although there are some international tensions in today's world, the Cold War era is long gone.”
Türkiye's membership in BRICS while preserving its unique position will serve as a model for European countries in search of opportunities in the EU, which has lost its economic superiority and competitiveness.
