Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu spoke at the Changing Global Transport Geopolitics and Development Path Project Conference. Noting that think tanks are the most important centers that shape a nation's mind, memory and future vision, Minister Uraloğlu said, "These organizations demonstrate a serious will in planning the route and future of a country to the extent that they focus on long-term and data-based analysis, not on the daily polemics of politics. SETA's bringing the changing transportation geopolitics and the Development Road Project to the agenda clearly shows the vision of the institution and the importance it attaches to the issues that shape the future of our country." He made a statement.
Minister Uraloğlu said, "In the great transformation that Turkey has undergone in recent years with the leadership of our President, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the information produced by institutions such as SETA has guided policy makers, enriched the decision processes and strengthened the intellectual basis of the Turkey Century vision. I wholeheartedly believe that SETA's persistent and in-depth work on this issue will continue to play an important role in building the future of our country." he said.
GLOBAL TRADE CORRIDORS ARE BEING REDRAWED
Uraloğlu stated that global trade corridors have been redrawn, not only the 'cheapest' one in the world; He stated that he was looking for the safest, shortest and most predictable route. Minister Uraloğlu noted that the geopolitical developments in recent years have once again clearly demonstrated how fragile transportation systems can be and how they can disrupt global trade. Minister Uraloğlu continued his words as follows:
"Recent crises have shown a very clear fact: The slightest disruption in the critical lines of global trade skyrockets energy prices, multiplies freight costs and locks supply chains. As you may remember, with the grounding of the Ever Given container ship in the Suez Canal in 2021, the canal was closed for days, hundreds of ships queued up, and the global supply calendar was suddenly turned upside down. The congestion and security risks experienced in the same narrow passage in the following period underline how fragile trade dependent on a single channel is. "In the Red Sea, the Houthis' attacks and threats against commercial ships forced many shipowners, especially the Europe-Asia line, to change their route to the Cape of Good Hope; transit times were extended by 10-15 days, and freight and insurance costs increased sharply. The tensions around the Strait of Hormuz increased the uncertainty at the heart of oil and LNG transportation and caused price shocks in the energy markets."
COUNTRIES ARE STARTING TO LOOK FOR SAFER, SHORTER, MORE PREDICTABLE AND MORE SUSTAINABLE ROUTES
Stating that the Russia-Ukraine War in the North actually narrowed the traditional northern route of China-Europe railway trade, Uraloğlu said that sanctions and operational risks accelerated the search for alternative routes.
Minister Uraloğlu said, "In summary, the uncertainty experienced in a strait, a canal or a single land line can delay the arrival of cargo containers for weeks, deplete the raw material stocks of factories, rapidly increase the cost to the consumer and even bring production to a halt. In the face of this fragility, countries have begun to look for safer, shorter, more predictable and more sustainable routes. This search has taken the world to a place very different from classical land-centered geopolitics, a 'network geopolitics'." Because the power of states is now measured not only by their borders and armies, but also by their ability to manage trade, energy and data lines. Connectivity projects have become tools that provide economic integration, produce strategic dependency and build regional order.” He made a statement.
“THERE IS NO CORRIDOR WITHOUT TURKEY!”
Drawing attention to Turkey's geographical and geostrategic superiority, Uraloğlu said, "As a Turkey located in the heart of the Central Corridor, managing the Turkish Straits and building the Development Road, we clearly prove this both at the table and on the field: There is no corridor without Turkey! The world now sees the Middle Corridor operating through the Trans-Caspian, the Development Road extending from Basra to Europe, the new connection of the Middle Corridor, the TRIPP Corridor and the Modern Hejaz Railway Line." "He's talking." he said.
“WE POSITION THE DEVELOPMENT PATH AS A COMPLEMENTARY FORCE THAT GIVES LIFE TO EXISTING TRADE NETWORKS”
Stating that the corridors in question are not rivals of each other, Minister Uraloğlu said, "They are complementary backbones that bring the East-West and North-South lines together in our country and carry them to Europe. Therefore, we position the Development Road as a complementary force that gives life to existing trade networks. Under the guidance of the unique vision, strategic genius and determined will of our President, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, one of the greatest leaders of our age, we are turning these complementary backbones into high-capacity, digital, environmentally friendly and competitive routes. "We are transforming Turkey and placing it at the heart of global trade and logistics as the meeting point of East and West, North and South." he said.
Minister Uraloğlu said that throughout history, Turkey has been a natural bridge in the east-west corridor between Asia and Europe, and a junction in the middle of the north-south corridors extending from the Caucasus to Africa, and continued his words as follows:
"We are located at the center of 67 countries with a Gross National Product of 57.2 Trillion Dollars, where approximately 1.6 billion people live within a four-hour flight distance. However, today it would be insufficient to define Turkey only with its geopolitical location. Because, under the leadership of our President, Turkey has become a geostrategic island of trust with its infrastructure investments, crisis-solving ability, constructive stance in diplomacy and trust-building approach. Its strong, solid and safe leadership, accepted by all world leaders, and its international dynamics "As an island of stability in the midst of conflicts, with its peace-loving and trust-building attitude, Turkey is not only a transit country, but also a central country that plans, connects and secures the routes."
355 BILLION DOLLAR INVESTMENT IN 24 YEARS
Minister Uraloğlu said that the grain corridor diplomacy during the Russia-Ukraine war, the constructive attitude displayed in the tensions in the region and the determination in infrastructure investments reinforced Turkey's "island of geostrategic trust" qualification and added: "The most concrete step that will reinforce and complement this trust is that we have invested approximately 355 billion dollars in our country's transportation and communications infrastructure in the last 24 years. In highways, 6 thousand 101 roads were built with the divided road campaign we started in 2002." "Today, we have increased our network, which was 77 kilometers, to 30 thousand 264 kilometers. While only 6 provinces were connected by divided roads, we have now connected 77 cities." he said.
Uraloğlu also noted that they increased the length of the highway from 1,714 kilometers to approximately 3,850 kilometers with projects such as the Northern Marmara, Istanbul-Izmir, Ankara-Niğde and Aydın-Denizli Highways, which provide uninterrupted, fast and comfortable connections between production centers and ports, and the Çeşmeli-Kızkalesi Highway, which is 52 km with the connection roads that are in service as of today.
HIGH-SPEED TRAIN NETWORK REACHED 2 THOUSAND 604 KILOMETERS
Minister Uraloğlu said that they have adopted railways as a state policy and a priority sector since 2002 and continued his words as follows:
"With the Çerkezköy Kapıkule High Speed Train Line, which we opened 10 days ago with the presence of our President, we increased our railway line, which was 10,948 kilometers in 2002, to 14,272 kilometers. We increased the length of the high-speed train network, which we built from scratch, to 2,604 kilometers by adding the Çerkezköy-Kapıkule Line. The number of provinces directly reached by the high-speed train It increased from 11 to 14. Currently, we are continuing the construction of new high-speed train lines such as Ankara-İzmir, Bandırma-Bursa-Yenişehir-Osmaneli, Mersin-Adana-Osmaniye-Gaziantep, Yerköy-Kayseri, Kırıkkale-Çorum, Karaman - Ulukışla, together with the remaining sections of Halkalı - Kapıkule. We aim to increase the number of provinces to 27.”
Explaining that they have moved Turkey to one of the countries with the largest flight networks in the world with the aim of "There will be no point left in the world that we cannot reach", Minister Uraloğlu said, "We increased the number of active airports from 26 in 2002 to 58. We not only grew domestically; we established a global aviation system extending to 356 destinations in 133 countries. As of July 1, 2026, our Turkish-owned fleet will have 2 thousand 262 ships and a capacity of 54.3 million deadweight tons. reached 11th place in the world rankings.” he said.
“DIVERSIFICATION OF TRANSPORTATION NETWORKS IS NO LONGER A PREFERENCE, BUT A MUST”
Stating that they have determinedly strengthened their regional and international cooperation in order to make Turkey an indispensable center of global trade, Uraloğlu said, "Today, diversification of transportation networks is no longer a choice, but an obligation; we turn this obligation into an opportunity. The Central Corridor is one of the most important pillars of this vision, as it is the most critical route connecting China and Central Asia to Turkey and Europe via the Caspian. Halkalı-Kapıkule Railway Line, Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge railway crossing and other railways ongoing in our country." "We continue to strengthen the carrying capacity of this corridor with our investments." he said.
Stating that the length of the lines connecting to the Middle Corridor in Turkey has reached a total of 2 thousand 156 kilometers, including the existing, ongoing and planned lines, Minister Uraloğlu said, "While the total investments made and to be made in this context amount to 47.1 billion dollars; in the 10-year projection, we foresee the production impact to be 114 billion dollars and the annual average employment impact to be 144 thousand people. Last year, 224 kilometers We laid the foundation of the Kars-Iğdır-Aralık-Dilucu Railway. This line will provide a strategic route to the Central Corridor and will be the shortest gateway to the Turkish world. He made a statement.
“WE ARE CREATING A NEW LOGISTICS STEEL THAT WILL CONNECT THE PERSIAN GULF TO EUROPE VIA TURKEY”
Explaining that the main backbone that will complement this power in the East-West axis in the North-South direction is the Development Road, Minister Uraloğlu said, "In summary, we are creating a new logistics backbone that will connect the Persian Gulf to Europe via Turkey, starting from the Fav Port in Iraq. This project offers a strategic alternative that will reduce the dependence on the Strait of Hormuz, especially for the cargo going from the Gulf countries to Europe. Thanks to the route leaving the Fav Port and extending to Europe via our country; Ümit takes 45 days." "According to the Cape route, it will take 20 days and 35 days, but compared to the Southern Corridor, it will be 10 days shorter and reduced to approximately 25 days." he said.
Stating that the Development Path aims to create a new trade and logistics corridor on the Asia-Gulf-Iraq-Turkey-Europe line, Uraloğlu said, "It has the potential to strengthen Turkey's central position in the east-west and north-south connectivity networks while supporting the economic reconstruction of Iraq. In this respect, the project is not only a transportation and infrastructure investment, but also a strategic lever that can reshape the regional balance of power and economic relations. The project has faced security problems after 2003." "It is one of the concrete tools of Iraq's claim to transform from a fragile state into a regional crossroads state, which is associated with political instability." he said.
TWO COUNTRIES ONE CORRIDOR
Uraloğlu said that the implementation of the project could contribute to Iraq reducing its dependence on oil revenues, gaining economic benefit from transit trade and increasing its geopolitical importance in the international system. Uraloğlu continued his words as follows:
"For Iraq, its success will be measured not only by generating income from transit transportation, but also by the development of industry, logistics, agriculture, trade, construction and tourism activities around the corridor. Therefore, supporting the transportation infrastructure with logistics centers, production areas and special economic zones will strengthen the project's capacity to create local added value and employment. We see the project not only as a transportation line, but as a comprehensive development project supported by logistics centers, petrochemical facilities and value-added production. On July 28, our President, Mr. Recep Tayyip "The memorandum of understanding signed in the presence of Erdoğan and Iraqi Prime Minister Mr. Ali al-Zaidi has embodied this vision. Especially the memorandum of understanding on railway and road transportation through the Fishhabur-Ovaköy Border Gate and the framework memorandum of understanding on the development of transportation infrastructure within the Republic of Iraq in exchange for natural resources are the strongest expression of the Two Countries One Corridor understanding between the two countries."
“THE PROJECT WILL DEEPEN THE BILATERAL ECONOMIC RELATIONS BETWEEN TURKEY AND IRAQ”
Development Path; Stating that it is a multi-modal logistics and economic development move beyond railways and highways, integrated with energy transmission lines, fiber optic infrastructure, oil and natural gas pipelines, Uraloğlu said, "The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway, Central Corridor and its integration with existing energy lines will reinforce Turkey's position in Eurasian connectivity networks. The project will also deepen bilateral economic relations by creating a kind of commercial destiny partnership between Turkey and Iraq." he said.
“WE PROJECT THAT THE PROJECT WILL CONTRIBUTE APPROXIMATELY 55 BILLION DOLLARS TO OUR ECONOMY IN A 10-YEAR PERIOD”
Stating that the reduction in logistics and freight costs will increase the competitiveness of Turkish export products in the Iraqi market and provide an advantage in shipments to third countries, Uraloğlu said, "In addition, when completed, it will be the gateway to Europe for South Asian and Far Eastern countries, will contribute to the connection of East Africa to Europe through Iraq, and will increase the resilience of global trade by providing a reliable alternative to the Strait of Hormuz. For our country alone, the project will contribute approximately 55 billion dollars to our economy in a 10-year period and will increase the production and logistics centers." "With its location, we expect it to create employment opportunities for approximately 70 thousand citizens every year." he said.
Explaining that the Hejaz Railway cooperation memorandum signed with Saudi Arabia recently strengthened this vision, Uraloğlu said, "By revitalizing the historical Hejaz Railway with a modern approach, we are establishing new connections from the Gulf to Turkey and from there to Europe. In our country, with the 1,681-kilometer line on the Kapıkule-Istanbul-Eskişehir-İslahiye route, the total number of railways including Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia sections is “We are talking about a 2,511 kilometer connection. This line will provide a safe, low-cost and sustainable land corridor alternative to the Strait of Hormuz and will enable the transportation of strategic cargo, including energy products.”
