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00:00Well, the BRICS alliance, which initially included Brazil, Russia, India, China and
00:04South Africa, has expanded rapidly.
00:07There are more countries hoping to join, among them Turkey, which has formally applied to
00:11become a member.
00:12Our correspondent there, Jasper Mortimer, tells us why Turkey wants to join and what
00:16it could mean for global diplomacy.
00:19Turkey seeks to boost its role in world affairs by getting together with other developing
00:24countries to form an alliance that can stand up to the West.
00:28The West has the G7, the European Union.
00:32Developing states have BRICS.
00:34Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said last week that Turkey wouldn't be so interested in
00:39joining BRICS if it had been admitted to the EU.
00:43And Turkey's not alone in its enthusiasm for BRICS.
00:46You know, the Russians are saying they expect 20 heads of state to attend this summit.
00:52Now, BRICS only has 10 members.
00:55That means half the participants are the leaders of non-member states.
01:00And this is a big slap in the face to Western attempts to isolate Russia because of its
01:06invasion of Ukraine.
01:08By going to this summit, presidents such as Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan are saying that
01:15Russia is still important and President Vladimir Putin is still influential.
01:22So an important presence then for Russia.
01:25What would Turkey's membership mean for Russia?
01:29Well, what Russia wants from this summit is Turkish support for two of President Putin's
01:37pet projects.
01:38The first is setting up a system of international payments that's an alternative to the dollar-based
01:45SWIFT system.
01:47And he will get President Erdogan's support on that.
01:51But it's going to be very difficult to achieve.
01:54Turkey's biggest trading partner, for instance, is the EU.
01:58And it's going to be very hard for Turkey to turn its back on the established system
02:03of international payments.
02:05Secondly, Putin wants Turkey to make itself into a hub for the sale of Russian natural
02:12gas to the rest of the world.
02:15Putin's been pushing this idea for two years now.
02:18But Turkey's not too enthusiastic.
02:20I think it's because Turkey doesn't want to become saddled with a lot of Russian gas
02:27that the Europeans don't want to buy.
02:30You know, Turkey does get gas from other countries such as Iran, but most of it comes from Russia.
02:37If it becomes a hub for Russian gas, although gas doesn't carry a label saying made in Russia,
02:45the Europeans will know that what Turkey is trying to sell them is mostly Russian gas.
02:52And they want to cut off their imports from Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine.