Islam Times - Turkey’s Entry to BRICS to Benefit Entire World: Speaker of Parliament

Islam Times - The possible membership of Turkey in BRICS will benefit not merely Ankara alone but the entire world, Speaker of the Grand National Assembly (the parliament) of Turkey Numan Kurtulmus said.

"Turkey’s presence in BRICS will indeed make a much serious contribution to the cause of global peace. This is because Turkey is the country that simultaneously participates in many formats of international cooperation," he said in an interview with TASS First Deputy Director General Mikhail Gusman.

Turkey is the member of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Organization of Turkic States, the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, NATO and the candidate to the European Union, the politician said. "It is also the country desirous to develop new alternative instruments of foreign policy," Kurtulmus stressed.

"This will enrich Turkey as regards foreign policy instruments and we hope participation of Turkey in such organization will promote the strengthening of global peace in conditions of the multipolar global system," he noted.

"Turkey, having the geostrategic position, being the bridge between the East and the West, having the cultural past and prospects for the future, has entered the process of transformation into a regional actor and even into the actor playing an efficient role in the global system. We consider BRICS as one of the important associations of the future multipolar global system because of that reason and Turkey’s entry to BRICS will not restrain Turkey but on the contrary, it will expand its foreign political capabilities," the speaker added.