Less than two months after his government hosted the NATO summit — which was framed as proof of Turkey’s pivotal role in transatlantic security — President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has proposed full Turkish membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, an entity that has been described as being anti-NATO or a “rogue NATO.”
The apparent contradiction was striking. Turkey has belonged to NATO since 1952 and remains a European Union candidate. In contrast, the China- and Russia-led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which has included Iran since 2023, projects an alternative, non-western vision of international order.
