Fact-Check: India Did Not Block Turkey’s BRICS Membership Bid

India could not have blocked Turkey's membership as the issue was not voted upon at the BRICS meet in Kazan.

The viral claim is false. Turkey's membership request was not voted upon at the BRICS meet in Kazan, Russia.

(Source: X/Altered by The Quint)

Social media users are sharing posts which claim that India vetoed Turkey's request to join BRICS — an intergovernmental organisation founded by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — due to the later's close ties with Pakistan.

• Some users have attributed this information to German news organisation Bild.

An archive of this post can be seen here.

(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)

At the time of writing this report, this post by X account Globe News was viewed over 34 lakh times.

(Archived versions of more posts sharing this claim can be seen here, here, and here.)

But…?: The viral claim is false. 

• Former Turkish diplomat Sinan Ülgen clarified that there was “no need to veto” Turkey’s membership as the issue was not voted upon at the recent BRICS meet in Kazan, Russia.

How did we find out the truth?: We ran a relevant keyword search using the term ‘India vetoes Turkey at BRICS’ on Google to look for more information.

• However, we did not find a single credible media report or official announcement to support the claim.

• On the contrary, we came across a report by The Economic Times, which mentioned that Turkey had dismissed the viral claim.

Turkey officially dismissed the viral claim.

(Source: The Economic Times/Screenshot)

• We looked for the original report on Bild to know more about the claim’s origin.

• A translated version of the article showed that it was titled ‘Erdogan’s BRICS Dream Burst’, adding an ‘Insider’ source saying that the dream failed because of India.

This screenshot shows a translated version of the original report, which was published in German.

(Source: Bild.de/Screenshot)

• Reading the article further showed that the person interviewed was former Turkish diplomat Sinan Ülgen, who reportedly told Bild, “There was not even a vote.”

• Ülgen then allegedly told the media organisation that India was behind this, because of Ankara’s close ties with Pakistan. “However, because a BRICS accession presupposes unanimity, Turkey accession would have had no chance,” the report read.

Ülgen reportedly told Bild that India "prevented the BRICS accesion."

(Source: Bild.de/Screenshot)

Former diplomat dismisses the claim: To verify this further, we looked for Ülgen’s statement on other platforms, which led us to his X account.

• Here, we saw that the former diplomat had shared a post dismissing the viral claim, stating that Bild’s article “did not include the nuances.”

• He admitted that India’s ties with Turkey were not close, “but there was no need to veto” the latter’s membership bid.

• “There issue was not voted on. Many other countries besides India are against rapid expansion. There is no consensus on that issue yet,” his post read.

Ülgen's post said that the issue was not voted upon.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

Conclusion: Turkey’s request to join BRICS was not blocked solely because India voted against it, as the issue was not voted upon during the meet.

(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9540511818 , or e-mail it to us at [e-mail] and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)