Erdogan targets membership in Shanghai Cooperation Organization

After attending this year's SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) summit as a dialogue partner, Turkey might take a further step in next year’s summit in India, Turkey’s President Erdogan said, adding that Ankara "targets" membership to the organization. 

In an interview with the journalists who were traveling with him back from Uzbekistan where the SCO summit was held, Erdogan praised the role that the organization played in the world. 

“Since its establishment, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has covered serious distances in the fields of security, economy, and trade, and has continued to expand within this framework. The decisive role played by the Asian continent in the global economy is already evident," Erdogan said.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), made up of China, Russia, India, Pakistan and four ex-Soviet Central Asian countries, was established in 2001 as a political, economic and security organization to rival Western countries. 

Erdogan during the summit spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi, Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev, Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon, Belarusian counterpart Aleksandr Lukashenko and prime ministers of India and Pakistan. 

Turkey has been a dialogue partner of the SCO since 2012, assumed the presidency of the Energy Club Senior Group of the organization and hosted the group’s Third High Level Meeting in Ankara in 2017.