Belt And Road Initiative
The concept of the century, also known as the One Belt, One Road or Belt-Road Project, Belt and Road Initiative, Belt and Road Initiative, or OBOR (One Belt One Road), was named for the first time in a speech given by Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to Kazakhstan in 2013. This project, which has been mentioned, has suddenly become the focus of attention of all the countries of the world. It has already signed cooperation agreements with nearly 70 countries from both Europe and Asia for this project, which is intended to revitalize and develop the Silk Road. This number is expected to increase each year. The project aims at international integration through transportation networks, energy networks and telecommunication. The project is a huge project that covers 42% of the world's GNP, 64% of the world's population, 40% of the land, 75% of the known energy.
Countries of the Silk Road
There are many corridors in the project and more than 60 countries located in these corridors. The different routes within the scope of the project are as follows:
- China-Mongolia-Russia
- China-Bangladesh-India-Myanmar
- China-Central and West Asia (the road with Turkey)
- Sino-Turkey Tile Peninsula
- China-Pakistan
According to the latest agreements with China, the countries within the project are divided according to the regions as follows:
- East Asia: China, Mongolia
- Southeast Asia: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Vietnam
- Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
- Middle East and North Africa: Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen
- South Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
- Europe: Italy, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine.
Importance of Silk Road for Turkey
The 'main line' Middle Corridor, in which Turkey is located, is at the centre of the project. With the increasing importance of the region within the scope of the project, it is predicted that the transportation in the Anatolian, Caucasus and Central Asia triangle will reach several times its current economic size in the medium term.
In recent years, the main axis of Turkey's transportation policies has been shaped to provide an uninterrupted transportation line from China to London. Former Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Cahit Turhan said, “The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway line, which was opened last year, is of great importance at this point as an infrastructure that unites all roads reaching our country from China and Central Asia. This project does not only unite 3 countries. England, France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan It connects I and China. An 829 km railway line stretching from Baku to Kars completes an important part of the central corridor line with the Caspian crossing. However, the importance of this project will be better understood in the coming years. Because the trade between China and Europe has reached the size of 1.5 billion dollars a day. It is expected that this trade flow will continue to increase and will exceed 2 billion dollars a day in 5-6 years”, expressing the importance Turkey attaches to the project. Turkey is located at one of the key points for the project and necessary studies are carried out to ensure the continuation of the project.