View from Turkey: BRICS has more potential than the G7 and the EU

11:58 28.10.2024 •

While many countries, especially Russia, were making new breakthroughs in the fight against the unipolar world order, BRICS was created in 2009 with the participation of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa at the call of Russia, stresses Turkish newspaper ‘DikGazete’.

While the Westerners continued their plans to encircle Russia with NATO and the EU and provoke Georgia and Ukraine against Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin, of course, was aware of all this and strengthened BRICS, the SCO, the Eurasian Economic Union and the Commonwealth of Independent States according to his strategy. Of course, while the Westerners were creating their puppet governments with the help of the so-called popular uprisings in Georgia and Ukraine, Russia continued to take both military and economic measures.

All the fears of Russian President Vladimir Putin were justified. Western countries were no longer threatening only Russia, they were also threatening China's sovereignty through Taiwan. At the same time, the member countries' trade routes were also under threat from Westerners.

In response to these economic threats, at the 5th BRICS summit held in Durban, South Africa in March 2013, the member countries decided to create an international financial institution that could compete with the IMF and the World Bank, which are dominated by Western countries.

The foundations of this institution, which laid at this summit, were to establish in 2014. In September 2013, at the BRICS leaders' meeting in St. Petersburg, China contributed $41 billion to the pool, Brazil, India and Russia contributed $18 billion each, and South Africa contributed $5 billion. Subsequently, the member countries began to grow stronger due to the guarantees and reforms they created.

BRICS became an organization that served the interests of all member countries, not just Russia and China. Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia showed courage and became countries that joined BRICS.

Afghanistan, Lebanon, Indonesia, Nigeria, Sudan, Syria and Turkey also announced their intention to join BRICS.

At the moment, there is a collective plan and interest in the expansion and growth of BRICS. This shows the potential of BRICS.

Now let's move on to the population and trade volumes of BRICS countries:

- Brazil has a population of 215 million people, and its trade volume is $2.2 trillion.

- Russia has a population of 144 million people, and its trade volume is $1.9 trillion.

- India has a population of 1.4 billion and a trade volume of $4.1 trillion.

- China has a population of 1.4 billion and a trade volume of $18.5 billion.

- South Africa has a population of 60 million and a trade volume of $401 billion.

- Egypt has a population of 111 million and a trade volume of $257 billion.

- Ethiopia has a population of 123 million and a trade volume of $192 billion.

- Iran has a population of 88 million and a trade volume of $386 billion.

- The United Arab Emirates has a population of 9 million and a trade volume of $536 billion.

- Saudi Arabia has a population of 36 million and a trade volume of $1.1 trillion.

If we look at the BRICS member countries, we will see that they are strategically important countries due to their location. The effectiveness of Russia, China and India on trade routes and their presence on these routes are particularly important. At the same time, the membership of important Middle East countries in BRICS is also important for the strategic stability of the region. The fact that Saudi Arabia and Iran are part of the same organization shows that this organization is important in terms of quality.

The G7, whose members are Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Japan and Canada, was currently the global organization with the largest share of trade. However, the G7 has the peculiarity of being a central organization rather than a broad-based one, since it does not include new member countries. The fact that the organization is imperialistic in nature, that it has no plans for poor countries, and that it uses military approaches to strategic issues such as Taiwan has actually made its character controversial.

Although the European Union still remains one of the most powerful economic unions in the world, the control of the sovereign rights of member countries by some leading countries and internal conflicts make this group controversial under the leadership of the United States.

When we look at all this, we see why BRICS has become an organization that has attracted attention in a short time.

If we look at Turkey, we should not ignore the fact that Western countries pose a military and economic threat to Turkey, although in reality they are "allies". We know that Turkey is under threat in almost every crisis period.

For this reason, Turkey wants to participate in BRICS. This is a reality.

If this is the case, Turkey will secure itself, especially economically. Turkey will also become one of the most powerful countries in BRICS. Turkey's strategic location and economic potential will also attract the attention of BRICS countries. For this reason, Turkey's membership in BRICS should also be accepted by BRICS member countries.

We see ongoing political instability in the West, an aging and declining population. We also see the expansion of trade routes by BRICS member countries, whose populations are young and large enough to grow production.

Therefore, the potential of BRICS is higher than that of the G7 and the EU.

 

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