Turkey discusses accession to SCO

ASTANA. KAZINFORM "EU is not the only option for Turkey. Ankara now discusses the issue of joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization," President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says.

“Brexit may spread, such voices are heard from France and Italy. Amid such conditions, Turkey should feel calm. Why not to become a member country of the SCO?” Erdogan said to journalists onboard of the flight back to Turkey after his visit to Uzbekistan.

In his words, he has already discussed this issue together with the presidents of Kazakhstan and Russia. In his opinion, the accession of Turkey to the SCO will give it more freedom of actions, RIA Novosti reports citing Turkish newspaper Sabah.

The Turkish Leader named the relations with Russia ‘not bad’, although “everything cannot happen at once.”

He told about the oncoming high-level contacts: on December 5-6, the Prime Minister of Turkey will visit Russia and in Q1 2017 the Russian-Turkish Cooperation Council will hold a meeting.