ANKARA, Sept 2 (Reuters) – NATO member Turkey would consider taking its relations with the China and Russia-led security bloc, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, to a higher level, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday.
“Turkey’s prospect of (full) membership to the organisation does not imply a breakaway from any other bloc or from the West,” Erdogan said, according to a transcript of remarks he made to journalists on his return flight from Kyrgyzstan.
Erdogan attended a summit of the SCO, of which Turkey is a “dialogue partner”, in Bishkek on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever; Editing by Daren Butler and Alex Richardson)
