Dr. Nejat Tamzok
Last week, at the BRICS Summit hosted by the Russian Federation, a bombshell report hit the media: Türkiye’s membership in the group was blocked by India due to Ankara’s close relations with Pakistan.
The claim was based on an interview with former Turkish diplomat Sinan Ülgen published in the German newspaper Bild. According to the article titled “Erdoğan’s BRICS dream shattered,” (1) India had voted against Türkiye, and since decisions in BRICS are taken unanimously, Türkiye’s membership bid had failed.
Later, the relevant individual stated that his comments had been misreported, clarifying that there had been no vote on Türkiye’s membership at the summit. (2)
India had not vetoed Türkiye’s BRICS membership. In fact, there was no vote; the decision was taken to wait as no consensus could be reached among BRICS members on expansion.
Nonetheless, it might be worth remembering the saying, “where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”
True, there was no vote and therefore India did not vote against Türkiye, but the statements made by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the summit were demoralizing enough for Türkiye and of course Pakistan as well.
Modi stated that they were ready to accept the new countries as “partner countries” rather than “member countries” in BRICS, and he particularly emphasized that decisions on this matter should be taken unanimously by the group members and with due respect to the views of the founding members. (3)
Considering that India, alongside Russia, China, and Brazil, is one of the four founding countries of BRICS, Modi was essentially reminding everyone that no new members could join the group without New Delhi’s approval. Thus, it is not difficult to predict that India will not easily allow Türkiye, with whom it has had serious issues in recent years, to join.
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