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.

But on Jan. 25, on the same TV channel, when he advocated Turkey’s membership in the SCO, Turkish public opinion took him seriously. This time he wasn’t joking. His intention was serious.

This what Erdogan said this time around: "EU wants to forget us but it can’t. It is reluctant. We will be more comfortable if it says so. Instead of stalling us, let it say so and we will go our own way. … Of course, when this [EU] affair is not proceeding well, as the prime minister of 75 million you start looking around for alternatives. This is what I told Mr. Putin the other day, ‘Take us into Shangai Five and we will forget the EU.’ Take us into Shangai Five and we will say goodbye to EU and leave. What is the point of this stalling?"