Turkish Officials Refute Claims of India Blocking BRICS Membership Application

Misbar investigated the circulating claims and found the claims to be misleading.

Turkish Expert Denies Misrepresentation by German Outlet Regarding BRICS Membership Claims

Misbar's team found that there have been no official sources confirming. As reported on Turkiye Today, Turkish foreign policy expert Sinan Ulgen responded to assertions made by the German news outlet Bild on Wednesday, which quoted him as claiming that India had denied Türkiye’s application for BRICS membership. 

Ulgen explained that the report inaccurately represented his remarks concerning Türkiye’s diplomatic status. "I gave an interview to Bild about BRICS, but the article omitted many important details," Ulgen noted in a post on X.

Furthermore, as highlighted in the article, the Turkish presidency disputed Bild's report, stating that there were no discussions about expansion on the agenda of the BRICS summit in Kazan. The presidency emphasized that any claims suggesting that India obstructed Türkiye’s membership are completely unfounded.

A post on X from BRICS News announced that BRICS officially welcomed13 new nations as partner countries (not full members), including Turkey.

A Gathering of Leaders In BRICS Summit 

Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted the annual BRICS summit in Kazan, a city in southwestern Russia, which began on Tuesday. This three-day event marks the largest assembly of world leaders in Russia in decades and takes place while the Kremlin is engaged in a conflict with Western-backed Ukraine. BRICS, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, was established in2006, with the first BRIC summit held in 2009 and South Africa joining the following year. The alliance aims to challenge the economic and political dominance of the West, setting priorities and discussing key issues annually during the summit, which is now in its 16th iteration.

A central theme uniting BRICS members is their dissatisfaction with Western-led global governance institutions, particularly in economic matters. The sanctions imposed on Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 have raised concerns among many Global South nations about the potential for the West to weaponize global financial tools against them.

Asli Aydintasbas, a Turkish foreign policy expert, noted in comments to the Brookings Institute, a Washington, DC think tank, that in the aftermath of the conflict in Gaza, Russia and China have effectively capitalized on growing anti-Western sentiment, leveraging frustrations over perceived Western double standards and the use of sanctions and economic coercion. She emphasized that while middle powers do not necessarily want to replace U.S. dominance with Chinese influence, they are open to aligning with Russia and China to create a more fragmented and autonomous world.

In line with this goal, BRICS partners are seeking to diminish their reliance on the U.S. dollar and the SWIFT system, the international messaging network for financial transactions from which Russian banks were excluded in2022.

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