NATO member Turkey declares intent to join BRICS

Turkey would like to join the BRICS group of nations and intends to bring up the issue at an upcoming meeting of the economic bloc’s foreign-ministry heads in Russia, the country’s foreign minister Hakan Fidan announced on Tuesday.

”We cannot ignore the fact that BRICS, as an important cooperation platform, offers some other countries a good alternative,” Fidan said, noting that while the group still has “a long way to go,” Ankara sees the “potential in BRICS.”

BRICS is an acronym that represents an association of five major emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The term was coined in 2001 by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill to describe these countries that he believed would play a significant role in the global economy by 2050.

South Africa joined the group in 2010, expanding the acronym to BRICS from its original BRIC (without South Africa).

The organization aims to deepen economic cooperation among member nations and increase their economic and political standing in the world. It's like a superhero team of countries, but instead of fighting supervillains, they're working together to boost their economies and challenge the traditional Western sphere of power.