President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan signalled in his remarks to journalists on a flight back from SCO member Uzbekistan and prospective SCO member Pakistan –expected to become a member in 2017- that Turkey could join this organization. Erdoğan emphasized that Turkey maintained good relations with the organization since 2012 when it received the status of a dialogue partner and that this issue was raised in bilateral meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. China was the first country to respond at a great pace and said: “We would be pleased to cooperate with Turkey”.

Turkey’s Term Presidency of SCO Energy Club Disturbed Some Circles

Turkey became the centre of attention globally when it achieved such a huge diplomatic success by assuming the term presidency of SCO Energy Club, a duty no other non-member state has been assigned so far.

As the energy requirement poses a significant problem worldwide, SCO Energy Club member states provide 36 percent of global electricity, 23 percent of global natural gas, 20.8 percent of global oil and 60.25 percent of global coal. Turkey’s enhanced cooperation with the Energy Club is disturbing some circles. In the event that Turkey establishes itself as the energy hub of the region, some European Union member states will inevitably become more dependent on Turkey in economic terms. Those countries are dragging the European Union down a dangerous path by acting against Turkey in order to prevent the possibility of such dependence.

There are other indicators of the growing importance of the SCO. Over the past 30 years, the economic centre of gravity of the world has moved from the Atlantic to Asia. It is of great importance to develop relations for the future of Turkey, whose economy that developed rapidly since 2002 has become the 18th largest in the world. While China’s “New Silk Road Project” is clearly looked at as a project that will change all the economic-political balances of the world, this situation is also an important opportunity for Turkey.

SCO Is Not an Alternative to the EU

SCO is not an alternative to the European Union or NATO as it is frequently discussed in the world public opinion. In addition, there is no legal obstacle for an EU and NATO member country from becoming member of the SCO. Therefore, the proximity of Turkey to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the recent period cannot be described as an axis shift. The Eurasian Economic Union (EEB/EAEU) operates as the equivalent organization of the European Union and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (KGAÖ/CSTO) as the equivalent to NATO in this region.

The fact that the SCO’s is not a superstructure where governments transfer their rights of sovereignty, such as in the EU, it does not constitute a threat in terms of sovereignty.

Moreover, most of the SCO member countries such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, China and Turkey already have good strategic partnerships in bilateral relations.

Full support from SCO in battle against FETO

And one of the issues of priority of Turkey; the fight against FETO… While no one from the West speaks up on this issue and some western countries provide indirect support to FETO, Russia and Kazakhstan fully support Turkey in its struggle against FETO.