Ankara: BRICS and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) provide Turkey with an opportunity to develop economic cooperation, but this does not mean Ankara abandoning NATO, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
“We cannot ignore the fact that we have ties with continental Europe and America to the same extent as we do with Central Asia, Russia, the Baltic region or the Far East. Likewise, we have a deep history with the Arab geography and the Persian Gulf countries, and we have close relations with Africa … Just because we are a NATO country, we cannot sever our ties with the Turkic and Islamic worlds. BRICS and ASEAN are structures that provide us with opportunities to develop economic cooperation. Participation in these structures does not mean abandoning NATO,” Erdogan told reporters on Thursday.
Turkey does not believe that these alliances and organizations are alternatives to each other, the president added.
At the beginning of September, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said that Turkey had applied for full membership in BRICS, which would be considered by the member-states. President Erdogan also accepted an invitation to participate in the BRICS summit in Kazan on October 22-24.
