Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan shakes hands with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, at the BRICS annual Summit in Brazil on July 7, 2025. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey)
Last year, Turkey took observers by surprise at the 2024 BRICS summit in Russia when it applied for full membership in an organization that seeks to challenge the Western-led liberal international order and is an adversarial alternative to NATO.
At the time, Turkey was turned down due to concerns over its NATO membership. Member states China and Russia had reservations over admitting a US ally and aspiring member of the European Union. This hesitance resulted in the BRICS bloc offering Ankara the option of being a “partner country” as an alternative, something which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is still considering.
At the organization’s 2025 Brazil summit, which recently concluded, Turkey renewed its interest in joining the bloc of anti-Western countries, only to be rebuffed again. Although Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who attended to represent his country at the summit, underscored that “Turkey is very interested in […] BRICS,” India reportedly issued a hard objection to greenlighting Turkish membership, owing to Turkey’s diplomatic and military support of Pakistan in the recent skirmish between India and Pakistan over Kashmir.
The eagerness of Ankara’s continued bid to join a club that seeks to undermine the foundations of the Western world order should be concerning to decision-makers in Washington and Brussels. However, as one observer recently noted, “The US views Turkey as a necessary partner against Moscow and Europe oscillates between criticism and cooperation, further emboldening Turkey.” The reality that Western leaders consistently ignore, however, is that Turkey is a persistent and growing danger to vital security interests.
Turkey acquired and holds S-400 Russian missile defense systems, which present a security threat to the NATO alliance. At the same time, Ankara has renewed its interest in purchasing 40 F-35 stealth fighter jets and 40 F-16s from the US—a desire that the Trump administration appears keen to help realize. Turkey is simultaneously developing nuclear power capability with Russia through the construction of the Akkuyu power plant, which is expected to become operational this year. Ankara is also seeking to develop independent nuclear fueling capabilities, which opens the potential for the development of a nuclear weapons program, a prospect for which Erdogan has previously expressed interest.
While pursuing all these goals, Turkey maintains a militarily threatening posture towards European allies Greece and Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean by challenging their sovereign maritime territory under its “Blue Homeland” doctrine. In the Middle East, Israel continues to monitor and raise concerns over a continued Turkish military buildup inside Syria, fearing that Ankara harbors intentions of becoming the next regional power like Iran. The Erdogan regime is also a premier champion of the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated and US-designated terrorist organization, Hamas.
Taking a decisive stance against Ankara’s actions that seek to undermine the security and economic interests of the United States and its partners and allies is hard for one very simple reason: Turkey is a NATO country, and it is difficult to perceive a fellow member state acting against the interests of the collective. However, one only needs to connect the dots of Erdogan’s long and ongoing list of transgressions against the interests of NATO, the US, and Europe.
The Trump administration just declared its intent to levy additional tariffs against future BRICS members. “Any Country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% Tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. Turkey more than qualifies for such a measure and then some.
Turkey’s aspiration to join BRICS is only the tip of the iceberg of Erdogan’s adversarial behavior. It is way past time to realize that the Turkish president is continuously taking steps to undermine Western security interests. The United States and Europe should stop coddling him.