Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan voiced strong support for BRICS while criticizing the European Union during a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Ankara.
At the meeting on Monday, which covered topics ranging from regional conflicts to Türkiye’s EU and BRICS ambitions, Fidan stated that Türkiye’s EU membership process had “de facto stopped” due to what he described as the bloc’s “Islamophobic” stance.
Türkiye has been an EU candidate since 1999 and began accession talks in 2005. However, negotiations stalled in 2018 over concerns about democratic backsliding, rule of law issues under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and disputes with EU member Cyprus.
“We have a long-standing membership adventure with the European Union, which is right next to us and which is highly institutionalised,” Fidan said. “The membership negotiations have frozen at some point due to the European Union’s discomfort in taking a large Muslim country into its fold due to its identity politics. No one says this openly, but this is the situation,” he added.
Fidan also highlighted Türkiye’s interest in joining BRICS, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Ethiopia, Iran, Egypt, and the UAE. While Türkiye officially requested membership last year, Fidan acknowledged that the group, currently chaired by Russia, had put expansion on hold.
“We closely follow BRICS, we have clearly shown our interest, but as far as we understand, BRICS has frozen the recruitment of new members in order to carry its own institutionalisation to a point,” he said. “We have not been offered membership. Therefore, we continue to follow closely at the moment.”
Comparing BRICS to the EU, Fidan praised its inclusivity, stating, “Unlike the European Union, the composition of BRICS is very inclusive. Seeing countries of all colours, religions, cultures and civilisations coming together … Whatever people and civilisations there are, they are trying to create a platform here. I hope that an institutionalised and inclusive economic approach will also develop here.”
Last September, Fidan noted that Türkiye would not be pursuing BRICS membership had it been granted EU accession. Officials in Ankara have emphasized that potential BRICS membership would not impact Türkiye’s commitments to NATO or its ties with Western nations.
