Erdogan says Turkey wants to be partner in SCO, NTV reports

ANKARA, July 5 (Reuters) – President Tayyip Erdogan said NATO member Turkey wants to be a partner in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), adding there was no reason for it not be a permanent member of the group, broadcaster NTV and others reported on Friday.

“We are saying to include us here not as a dialogue partner, but as a partner to the organisation like the others,” Erdogan told reporters on a return flight from an SCO summit in Astana. “It may take some time,” he was cited as saying.

Erdogan, who met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Astana, also said he believed the Black Sea grain corridor, which allowed for the safe shipment of grains amid the Ukraine-Russia war, could be revived after it was halted last year.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Jonathan Spicer)

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