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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.

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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.

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.

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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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

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.

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 webqoof@thequint.com and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)

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