BREAKING — Turkey officially submitted an application to become a member of BRICS

Turkey will be the first NATO member to request membership of the BRICS economic bloc spearheaded by the leaders of Russia and China, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, it has been reported.

Bloomberg said Monday that Ankara had formally asked to join the group of emerging market nations as it looks beyond its traditional Western allies. Newsweek has contacted the Turkish Foreign Ministry for comment.

One former Turkish diplomat has told Newsweek that the move has been driven by “accumulated frustrations” in Ankara with the West and the European Union. “This is not the strategy, by Ankara, to replace the West, but it’s a strategy to strengthen relations with non-Western powers at a time when the U.S. hegemony is waning,” said Sinan Ülgen, head of the Istanbul-based think tank EDAM.

Named after Brazil, Russia, India and China and South Africa, the BRICS group includes countries not listed in the acronym, such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Ethiopia and Egypt, which all joined earlier this year. The bloc is considered to be an alternative on the global stage to the U.S.-led G7 group.