In an earlier article we had pointed out that the US-EU decided to propose the so-called "Indo-European route" as a counterbalance to the Chinese Silk Road, with India at the centre and with a route starting from India via UAE-Saudi Arabia-Jordan-Israel-Greece and ending in the EU.
The above route is extremely important for Greece, which becomes its gateway to the EU, with Turkey bypassed, something that greatly annoys the Turks.
The alternative route that Turkey is pursuing
The Turks are attempting to reverse the design of the Indo-European route, presenting themselves as part of a new route through Iraq to their country and from there to the EU.
This route is called the 'Iraq Development Road' initiative.
Turkey is in "intensive negotiations" with Iraq, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE on the project, under which goods would be transported from the port of Grand Faw in Iraq by road and rail to Turkey.
In addition, the proposed $17 billion route will rely on 1,200 km of high-speed rail and parallel high-speed road network.
The Turks aim to complete the first phase of the project in 2028.
Turkey's new target the Gulf countries
Erdal Eren, President of the Turkish Contractors' Association (TMB), said that the steps to be taken for the implementation of the above project, stressing its importance for Turkish contractor companies.
Eren gave an assessment to the Anadolu correspondent on the activities of the industry and its goals for the coming year.
Stating that they were focusing on new target countries in this process, Eren said: "With the improvement of our political relations, we have turned our attention particularly to the Gulf countries. We focused on activities that will increase our presence in the region, particularly Saudi Arabia and Iraq."
Eren said they see Saudi Arabia, which has an annual new business potential of $10 billion in the first stage, as a candidate to offset the loss to Russia and that they are working to develop cooperation with that country.
The negative aspects of the Turkish route
However, the Turkish proposal stumbles on the following main negative parameters:
The first is the Kurds and the PKK, since the road that will cross Iraq and end up in Turkey will pass through Kurdish territories in Northern Iraq, and then through Kurdish provinces in South-Eastern Turkey, where for 40 years the Turkish Armed Forces have not succeeded in destroying this armed group, which has been classified as terrorist by the US-EU.
The PKK guerrilla movement is still in existence and therefore the road is not safe.
The second and most important negative aspect is that the route via Iraq-Turkey leaves out Israel and Greece, two loyal friends and allies of the USA, who have developed a solid alliance with each other in the South-Eastern Mediterranean.
The third and most important aspect is that the EU cannot trust the insolvent Erdogan and Turkey in such an important project, since it can be blackmailed at any time by the Turks, as it has done repeatedly, using the migration issue.
The fourth and last main parameter in our estimation is that any adoption of the Turkish proposal would make the neighbouring country a leader in the wider SE Mediterranean region, something that the US-EU-Israel clearly do not want, especially when Erdogan maintains friendly relations with Putin and Russia and very good relations with Iran, both enemies of the West.
