Mohsen Pakain stated in an interview with the website of the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations: It may seem that Turkey’s inclination to become a member of the Shanghai Organization indicates that the country is dissociating itself from the West, NATO, and the European Union, but the reality is that due to Turkey’s affiliations with European standards and membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, dissociating from NATO will definitely not be part of Erdogan’s goals.

Referring to the challenges and problems Turkey has with Europe and the West, he said: “Turkey has problems with its neighboring countries, including Cyprus and Greece, regarding security issues, and the European Union is pressuring to resolve the occupation of Northern Cyprus by Turkey and to settle the disputes between Europe and Turkey in the Mediterranean Sea. Therefore, due to its controversies with the West and Europe, Turkey is sometimes obligated to uphold their policies. With this state of affairs, it will not be easy for Turkey to support and agree with the interests of a group of countries in the Eastern region.

This expert on regional and international issues continued: It seems that all the disputes Turkey has with Europe and NATO have provoked Erdogan to become a member of the Shanghai Security Organization in order to secure his own benefits from this organization on account of stabilizing relations between the West and East or between NATO and Shanghai.

Emphasizing that Shanghai is not an organization with similar military goals as NATO, he stated that Shanghai is more of a security organization rather than a military one, and its goals are based on deterrence, not aggression against/ hostility towards other countries. Therefore, conversion and membership in these two institutions are essentially different. Consequently, Turkey’s approach to NATO’s membership is not necessarily the same as joining the Shanghai Organization, and perhaps political goals are involved.

This former diplomat of our country said about Erdogan’s goals for making such a request: Naturally, Erdogan wants to secure Turkey’s interests in the region and the world by becoming a member of the Shanghai Organization. One of the most important reasons for making this appeal, considering the issues between Turkey and Western countries and America, is that Erdogan is trying to pressure Western countries and NATO through Shanghai’s membership to reduce the pressure of NATO and the European Union against him.

Pakain stated about the tendency among the region’s countries, especially Turkey, to become a member of the Shanghai Organization: the countries in this region and worldwide are interested in becoming members of regional treaties and unions, and Turkey is pursuing the membership of Shanghai as a security institution in the context of cooperation with regional and neighboring countries. Particularly considering that supremacy will be shifted from the West to the East in upcoming years.

This expert on regional and international issues pointed out that Turkey wants to reinforce and uphold its position in the East by becoming a member of the Shanghai Organization and trying to benefit from its status and the advantages it brings as a country that has a good geographical, political, and economic position in both Asia and Europe.

Regarding the goals and approaches between Shanghai and NATO, or Turkey’s pursuit of Western countries’ goals and simultaneously, the goals of Shanghai’s member countries, he said: “It is unlikely for Erdogan to support Shanghai in case of any possible dispute between the Shanghai Organization and NATO.” In a case like this, Ankara, considering its approaches and interests in its relations with Europe and America, will try to go alongside Western countries and NATO.

Pakain considered Turkey’s admission into the Shanghai Organization a sensitive issue, the scopes and aspects of which will have to be investigated by this organization.