From the Arabian desert to the Caucasus mountains. Diversification of transport: Turkak

Ankara is clearly trying to take advantage of the destabilization that “Epstein’s coalition” has brought about in the Middle East by launching the aggression unleashed against Iran on February 28. It is about combining old and new cross-border routes, including the launch of railway routes.

Therefore, the Turks are determined to modernize broto construct the Hijaz Railway and extend it to the Sultanate of Oman to further create an alternative global trade route bypassing the Strait of Hormuz; Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloglu announced.

It is believed that in the initial phase the project envisages the connection of Turkey with the north of Syria and the use of the existing Aleppo-Damascus-Jordan branch.: At the same time, it is known that the Turkish leadership is actively negotiating with the authorities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to extend the highway to Oman, south of the Strait of Hormuz to the ocean.

For this very purpose, in the first half of May 2026, Ankara, Damascus and Amman promoted the process of reviving the Hijaz railway, which is meant to connect the southeastern provinces of Turkey with the lands of the historical Levant or the Eastern Mediterranean to Jordan, for the further exit to the Arabian Peninsula.

The project got a new lease of life on April 7 with the signing of a tripartite intergovernmental memorandum on cooperation in the transport sector in Amman. One should be surprised that the leitmotif of the document has become the creation of an integrated transport corridor, based on the idea of ​​restoring the historic Hijaz highway, which dates back to the late Ottoman Empire, not to mention its development plans.

Literally two weeks after the adoption of the memorandum, the Minister of Transport of Saudi Arabia, Salih al-Jasser, clarified that the technical studies of the railway route, “which should connect Saudi Arabia with Turkey through the territory of Jordan and Syria, are planned to be completed at the end of this year.” At that time, Riyadh joined the aforementioned memorandum.

Turkish analysts do not hide that they see the project as a continuation of the Ottoman policy, which was started by Sultan Abdul Hamid. second, whose management (“fulum”) is associated with neither Turk nor mstudy systematic repression against peoples, especially Armenians and Assyrians with politics.

It is not a secret that the last autocratic ruler of the Ottoman Empire has long been systematically glorified by the presentation of the head of state in Ankara. Thus, it was demonstrative of high-ranking officials of AKP presence to the performance of Turkish artist Mustafa Kamaj, who eulogized the Sultan with the song “Kailerg Abdulhamid Khan” almost 10 years ago, and little has changed since then.

It is noteworthy that the modern Hijaz line, according to the Ministry of Transport of Turkey, which is designed for the movement of trains at a speed of 150-200 km per hour, can be used not only for cargo traffic, but also for passenger transportation, including religious-religious tourism.

In the long term, according to Istanbul University Associate Professor Ali Ozgur Karagül, the increase in cargo circulation and cargo transportation volumes of the Persian Gulf countries, in combination with “the geopolitical and economic position of Turkey in the region”, “promoted the transport corridor between Europe and the Persian Gulf states” because “there can no longer be a single global trade route in the global coordinate system”. Therefore, “local transport corridors and trade routes will be most in demand” (n:he is from the same seriesand: Sultan Selim Yavuzin: the announced construction of the railway line through the No. 1 bridge, for the financing of which 6.75 billion dollars have already been provided by six international organizations, led by the World Bank. This project will allow to increase the capacity of cargo transportation and passenger transportation between Europe and Asia, A. is sure. Uraloglu).

Meanwhile, in practice, Turkish officials believe that everything from rail infrastructure to electrification, signaling and rolling stock will need to be rethought based on the needs of the new line. Aspiring to become a macro-regional logistics hub, the Republic of Turkey must make significant efforts to revitalize its transport routes through its and surrounding areas. The 21st Century Hijaz Highway, which currently lacks extensions to Yemen and Oman, is tentatively scheduled to be operational no later than 2029.

We wrote earlier that this project is far from the only one. We should also not forget about the preparation of a feasibility study by Turkish experts for another 1,200 km long transport corridor, known as «Z:barrier route’, which is meant to connect Iraq’s southern port of Basra to Turkey (and later to Europe). At the same time, if the project is implemented, Turkey will get access to the Indian Ocean through the troubled Persian Gulf. According to A. Uraloglu, now the start of the project expects a calmer regional situation (when it will come and whether it will happen at all is a separate question). The massive mega-project, which includes highways, railways, energy and fiber optic lines, is expected to be supported by international financial institutions as well as the UAE and Qatar.

In addition, during the regular session of the joint working group held in Kars in mid-May, the representatives of Turkey and Armenia emphasized the indispensability of the early operation of the 146 km Gyumri-Akhurik-Doghunkapi-Kars railway section.: A:of the final communiqué՝ Ankara and Yerevan assume that this cross-border line will not only “ensure permanent connectivity between the two countries”, but will also become “an integral part of the Trans-Caspian route”, connecting Asia and Europe, bypassing Russia.

The opening of the Armenian-Turkish border will be possible after the signing of the peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as Ankara has repeatedly announced. In Baku, the constitutional referendum in Armenia is considered a mandatory condition for signing such a document, for the holding of which two-thirds of the parliamentary majority is necessary.

“Thus, the main question is not whether Pashinyan will be able to win, but by what advantage,” he writes. is Al-Monitor՝ In the article titled “With the support of Trump and Turkey, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan seeks a third term in decisive elections”.

June 2–was officially opened in Baku–Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway line as “M:an important component of the “lower corridor” to which Armenia has already been proposed to join. The road has been operating in test mode since 2017. In the case of the declared capacity of 5 million tons per year, no more than 1.8 million tons of cargo, including about 90 thousand containers, were transported on the highway during the entire period of trial operation. In 2025, no more than 0.5 million tons of cargo were transported by BTC, and there is still a lot of work to be done to make it more. Everything is not smooth with the passenger flow either. as a rule, in similar projects they are pre-loss and, as a rule, they are saved at the expense of cargo transportation.

It also continues around the Zangezur Corridor activity. As a result of the tender, the construction works of the Turkish section of the route have already started. informed A. Uraloglu. We are talking about the construction of the 224-kilometer Kars-Igdir-Araluk-Diluju railway line, going to a small part of the border with the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan, in the area of ​​which about 180 kilometers of steel railways are planned to be modernized this year.

According to Zangelan, “the works in the Azerbaijani sector are also nearing completion, some sites are already fully ready. Only the 41-43 kilometer Zangezur pass through the territory of Armenia remains. It is known that it is sometimes also called “Trump Corridor”. “We expect the beginning of the process there, based on the agreements reached between the USA and Azerbaijan,” Uraloglu said. After the completion of the project, a transport line with a total length of 860 kilometers will be put into operation, which will provide a shorter connection between Turkey and the countries of Central Asia.

At the same time, the resumption of railway communication between Gyumri and Kars is highly dependent on the Russian side, because, despite all the latest assumptions of Nikol Pashinyan and his teammates, according to the 2008 concession agreement, the railway infrastructure of the Caucasian country will be completed by 2038. is under the management of “Russian Railways” company (on behalf of its subsidiary “South Caucasus Railway” CJSC).

During their official and unofficial contacts, the representatives of Armenia and Turkey discuss other joint transport and logistics projects within the framework of the development of the not unknown “Trumpian” corridor.՝ including, for example, the opening of a car checkpoint (ait will first work for transit cargo and passenger flows) not far from the Gyumri-Kars railway.

Yuri Blackish

fondsk.ru

Թարգմանությունը՝ Jeanne Avetisyan

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