Türkiye inches toward membership in BRICS while at the same time seeking to maintain close ties with the West, particularly the European Union. As Ankara aspires to pursue balanced ties in a polarizing world, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan assured the international community that the balance would not be disturbed.

"We are utilizing every opportunity to make Türkiye a regional and global power. Our axis, our course is clear. We turned our face to the West but this does not mean we turned our back to the East and stopped developing ties with them," he told a convention of Turkish contractors behind international projects at an event in the capital Ankara.

As he lauded the accomplishments of Turkish contractors abroad, Erdoğan said Türkiye took revolutionary steps from economy to foreign policy in the past 22 years, while his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) was in power. "Turkish foreign policy had an introverted nature in the past. A mindset seeking to avoid risks and believing Türkiye should not offend anyone in foreign affairs turned the country into a mere spectator even on issues in its immediate region and issues directly affecting them. Starting in 2002, we launched a strong change in the paradigm of foreign policy. We strengthened our ties with our neighbors with different mechanisms," Erdoğan highlighted.

The president noted that several initiatives in Africa and Latin America and the Asia Anew initiative helped them to build new bridges and they had reaped the benefits of those initiatives.

"Our initiatives were accompanied by frequent criticism. Criticism over the (alleged) shift of axis in foreign policy was one of them. They falsely claimed that Türkiye was distancing itself from the West," Erdoğan lamented. The president said it was unfair to confine Türkiye to a narrow, obsolete mindset.

"Türkiye’s initiative to generate new foreign policies should be appreciated. Saying what Türkiye was doing there is a failure means a lack of grasping global policies," Erdoğan said, referring to opposition parties’ oft-repeated argument that Türkiye should have no business in far away or small countries.

"For instance, it is only natural to enhance our cooperation with the Asia Pacific and the Indian Ocean region where three of the world’s five major economies are located. Türkiye has a clear axis, a clear course. We do not live in a black-and-white world now. We desire to improve our cooperation with all countries and actors based on an approach shaped by mutual respect and a win-win policy," he underlined.

In another event earlier this month, Erdoğan highlighted that Türkiye could be a strong, prosperous and prestigious country if it improved its relations with the East and the West simultaneously. His comments came as Türkiye pushed for membership in the BRICS alliance of developing markets.

BRICS touts itself as an alternative to what its members see as Western-dominated institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. New members can potentially get access to financing through its development bank as well as broaden their political and trading relationships.

The BRICS grouping, named after Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, includes some of the biggest emerging economies. At the start of this year, it had four new members: Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and Egypt. Saudi Arabia was invited to join, though the kingdom has yet to do so. BRICS expansion has primarily been driven by China, which is trying to boost its global clout by courting nations traditionally allied with the U.S.

Türkiye’s foreign policy has had its fair share of fluctuations, but Erdoğan always emphasized a "win-win" approach, whether it was normalizing ties with the Syrian regime or Egypt. Türkiye has strongly criticized the Western countries for its support of Israel and the PKK terrorist group in Syria, but it never severed ties outright. The country also stands out as one of the few maintaining good ties with both Russia and Ukraine amid the heated conflict between the two.

Constitution debate

Erdoğan, who has been quiet about a recent debate over constitutional amendments, also touched upon the issue in his speech on Wednesday. Earlier this month, the chair of an opposition party that endorsed Erdoğan in the 2023 general elections, called upon the government to consider amendments in the first four articles of the Constitution as Erdoğan seeks to replace the coup-era Constitution with a "civilian" one. The articles define the country’s flag, capital and method of governance, which is a republic. The Free Cause Party (HÜDA-PAR) sparked outrage when its leader Zekeriya Yapıcıoğlu claimed that the fact that those articles cannot be "changed" would be a blow to the free will of future generations.

Though HÜDA-PAR never explicitly declared the cause of this call, its critics accuse the party of seeking to install "Shariah" as a new regime. The party has been labeled "Islamist" by the main opposition.

Erdoğan, also labeled "Islamist" by his critics, said there was no need for a debate on the first four articles of the Constitution.

"The People’s Alliance has no such issue on its agenda," Erdoğan said, referring to the AK Party’s partnership with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which strongly opposes HÜDA-PAR’s proposal.

"A new, civilian constitution is our debt to this nation who defended the country in the 2016 coup attempt. We clearly expressed our intent to give this nation a new, civilian and all-embracing constitution. Certainly, you cannot block different opinions in democracies. Although we disagree, we have to tolerate different opinions as long as they do not promote violence. But a maximalist discourse will certainly hinder the new constitution debate instead of contributing to the process," he said.