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ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey has taken no concrete steps towards meeting its stated desire to join the BRICS group of emerging economies but "a process is underway", the spokesperson for the country's ruling party said on Tuesday.
The BRICS comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Ethiopia, Iran, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates.
Moscow and Beijing, in particular, are keen to expand the group further as they seek to counter Western economic dominance, and it would be a major diplomatic coup if Turkey, a NATO ally and candidate for EU membership, were to join.
"Our president has stated at various times that we want to be a member (of BRICS)... Our request on this issue is clear. This process is underway in this framework, but there is no concrete development on this," Omer Celik, of President Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AK Party told reporters in Ankara.
"If there is a concrete development - a decision or evaluation by BRICS on membership - we will share that with you," he said when asked about media reports on the issue.
Turkey has been relatively coy in public about its plans.
Asked during a visit to China in June whether Turkey might join the BRICS group, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said "we would like to, of course, why would we not?" without elaborating further.
Russia welcomed Fidan's reported comments and said the issue would be on the agenda of the BRICS' next summit. But Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek later said in London that Turkey did not want to decouple from its "core" Western partners, while its defence minister stressed last month that Ankara remained committed to its responsiblities as a NATO ally.
Ankara's interest in the BRICS group and its friendly ties with Russia, especially in energy, tourism but also in defence, have stirred U.S. and European fears that Turkey may be pivoting away from its traditional Western geopolitical orientation.
(Reporting by Burcu Karakas and Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Gareth Jones)
