President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants Turkey to join BRICS and submitted a membership application before the 16th summit of this bloc. But for now, he has to bury that idea.

Sinan Ulgen, a former diplomat and foreign policy expert at the Carnegie Foundation of Turkey, told Bild that India is preventing Turkey from joining the BRICS. And the reason is Ankara's good relations with India's enemy, Pakistan.

According to Ulgen, Erdogan wants to be in an alliance with Russian President Vladimir Putin to strengthen Turkey's "strategic autonomy." In addition, he is disappointed with the EU.

Another reason is "political prestige." Erdogan wants to show that "he can sit on NATO and BRICS chairs at the same time," and considers himself a "mediator" in the international arena.

Critics say that, with such measures, Erdogan has driven Turkey into foreign political isolation.