Erdogan announces that Turkey wants to join the SCO, a first for a NATO member

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on September 16, 2022. AP - Sergei Bobylev

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1 min

The day after a trip to Samarkand, Uzbekistan, where he was attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that his country wanted to join this organization which presents itself as an alternative to the 'West.

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With our correspondent in Istanbul,

Since 2013, Turkey has been a "dialogue partner" of

(SCO), established in 2001 by China, Russia and four Central Asian states, later joined by India, Pakistan and Iran.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan now claims that Turkey's "

" is membership in the SCO.

Never has the Turkish head of state been so clear about his intentions vis-à-vis an organization which presents itself as a counterweight to Western influence and its institutions such as NATO, of which Turkey is a member. .

This announcement illustrates how Recep Tayyip Erdogan views international relations.

For the Turkish president, there are no “friendly” or “enemy” countries, no permanent or competing alliances – in the sense that belonging to one would prevent joining the other.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan reasons only in terms of interests, in his relations with the West or, for example, with Russia.

But beyond his foreign policy, this announcement also illustrates the domestic policy of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who therefore has no problem seeing Turkey join an organization of countries mostly disregarding human rights and democratic rules. .

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• Turkey

• Recep Tayyip Erdogan