Why Turkey sees opportunity in Hormuz crisis to boost Middle Corridor
Ankara seeks to exploit transport disruptions from the Iran, Ukraine wars to push the corridor, but high costs, logistical bottlenecks and South Caucasus politics pose obstacles.
In the transportation disruptions caused by the conflicts in Iran and Ukraine, Turkey sees an opportunity to promote the Middle Corridor — linking China and Central Asia to Europe via the Caspian Sea, South Caucasus and Turkey — but major transport, financial and political hurdles stand in the way of realizing it as an alternative trade route.
The Middle Corridor’s prospects have grown since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine disrupted northern overland trade routes through Russia and Belarus and they stand to further increase with the maritime disruptions caused by the de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran and the United States.
Behind Turkey’s push
The Middle Corridor, formally the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), is a multimodal Chinese-European project running from China through Central Asia, across the Caspian Sea, then via Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to Europe.
