Turkey: Turkey is trying to forge alliances with allies in the East by seeking membership in the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Erdogan made the announcement on Friday after attending the SCO summit in Uzbekistan, where he met Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. If the bid is successful, Turkey will be the first member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to join the bloc.

According to Turkey's state-run news agency Anadolu, Erdogan said of the SCO during a press conference in Samarkand, "With this move, our relations with these countries will be in a very different position."

Turkey has "historical and cultural" ties with the Asian continent and wants to play a role in the SCO, which according to Erdogan represents "30% of global GDP".

His comments on Turkey's possible SCO membership came as Erdogan demanded but was unable to secure a face-to-face meeting with US President Joe Biden during the United Nations General Assembly in New York, according to people familiar with the matter.

Turkey has been a member of the SCO since 2013, when a partnership agreement was signed. Full membership in the bloc will provide Erdogan with new leverage against the West as well as the prospect of stronger economic ties as the government attempts to stabilize the country's troubled economy ahead of next year's elections. Apart from Russia and China, the other members of the SCO are India, Pakistan and Kazakhstan.

Under the Islamic-conservative Erdogan's nearly two-decade rule, Ankara's relations with its Western allies have steadily deteriorated.
On security issues, particularly with Kurdish rebels and Greece, Turkish leaders often cite frustration and a lack of solidarity within NATO and the European Union, where Ankara is a candidate.

In response, the European Union cited deteriorating human rights and the rule of law in Turkey, especially since the 2016 military coup. Turkiye was nominated as an official EU candidate in 1999, but membership talks have effectively stalled.

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