President Tayyip Erdoğan said on Wednesday that Türkiye would not stop deepening ties with the East, including the BRICS group of nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), even as it continued to face West.
Speaking at an event in Ankara, Erdoğan said debates over an "axis shift" were unfounded, but that Türkiye had to adapt to new "centres of power" forming in the fields of economy, production, and technology, while keeping itself open to opportunities with every structure and actor.
"That is the approach that lies behind our country's will to expand the basis of dialogue with all of them, from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation to BRICS and ASEAN," Erdoğan said. "Of course, our face is turned to the West, but this certainly does not mean that we will turn our backs on the East, that we will ignore the East, or not improve our ties with the East," he added.