Erdogan: Türkiye to develop transport infrastructure with Azerbaijan

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that Türkiye will develop transport infrastructure with Azerbaijan.

He made the remarks during his speech in Sivas, Azertag reports on May 24.

“High-speed railway lines to be built in other regions of Türkiye will be connected with the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars line,” the president said.

“We will establish a communication line from Türkiye’s Yerköy YHT railway station to Kayseri and extend this line to Erzincan, Erzurum and Kars. From there we will connect it to the Baku-Tbilisi line. With the help of this line called Iron Silk Road, we will open a world-important strategic ‘breathing tube’ in our region,” Erdogan added.

The new Iron Silk Road is reported to connect China to Europe via Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan routes, reaching Baku by train ferries crossing the Caspian Sea from the ports of Turkmenbashi in Turkmenistan and Aktau in Kazakhstan.

From Baku, trains will cross Georgia and enter Türkiye at the eastern border city of Kars. They will then travel the length of the country to the Marmara Sea on the west coast. From there, cargo will again be transported by train ferry to the European side of Türkiye. Shunting engines will pull the wagons to the port where they will resume their journey, entering Bulgaria, passing through Serbia, Hungary and Austria, and into Germany and beyond.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars rail line connects Baku to the Turkish border city of Kars, via Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. The three countries pitched the project as an alternative route for China's Belt and Road Initiative that aims to connect China and Europe.