Turkish Prime Minister first announced his intention to take his country into the Shangai Cooperation Organization [SCO], otherwise knows as the Shangai Five, in an interview on July 25 with a Turkish TV channel close to his party. Erdogan then said: “I joked with Putin, ‘Time to time you joke with us and ask what we are doing with EU. Now it is my turn to joke. Come, accept us into Shangai Five and we will reconsider EU.’”
At the time Erdogan wasn’t taken too seriously because he said he was joking with Putin.