A new crisis was experienced with Kazakhstan, which is a transit country in export shipments to Central Asia. Turkish transporters have not been able to transport to Central Asia via Kazakhstan for weeks, as the limited number of transit pass documents have been exhausted. Lastly, the Joint Land Transport Commission (KUKK) meeting held between the two countries in Istanbul last week concluded without an agreement. Transporters, who lost a large part of their freight income to foreigners due to the obstacles they encounter in transit, want the gate of Turkmenistan to be opened urgently in order not to lose more blood in this market.
Central Asia is one of Turkey's most important export markets. Approximately 40 thousand export trips are made annually to Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. More than half of these shipments are made to Uzbekistan, where commercial relations are gradually developing. Before the pandemic, Turkish transporters were making 90 percent of their Central Asian flights to Turkmenistan via Iran and then to other countries. However, due to the epidemic, Turkmenistan closed the transit passage to the whole world. After this development, only two options remained for Turkish transporters to reach Central Asia. The shortest alternative route was the Georgia-Azerbaijan route. However, transporters mostly prefer to cross to Central Asia via Georgia-Russia-Kazakhstan, as Azerbaijan charges an additional fee of more than $500 per vehicle. While 30 thousand transit pass documents were needed from Kazakhstan, the issue of only a few thousand documents caused problems on this route as well.
UND officials left a black wreath with the inscription "Sorry on behalf of Turkish Kazakh Brotherhood" in front of the Kazakhstan Embassy at the end of June to protest Kazakhstan, which prevents export shipments to Central Asia by not providing a pass document. UND officials stated that 26 thousand transports per year were blocked and 3 billion dollars of exports could not be made for this reason, and demanded that the transit passages be paved and the requirement to go to the country by Ro-Ro be lifted.
“Turkmenistan should be opened urgently”
Speaking to WORLD, UND Chief Executive Officer Alper Özel stated that the problems with Kazakhstan have not been resolved and they are heading towards a crisis, and said, “We understood that some segments removed these obstacles for their own benefit at the KUKK meeting held in Kazakhstan. Turkey is currently experiencing great difficulties in reaching Central Asia. “Kazakhstan is blocking it,” he said. Özel stated that they focused on alternative solutions due to the growth of the transit crisis with Kazakhstan, and said that as the transporters, they demanded the reopening of the Turkmenistan gate, which was the starting reason for the problems. Transporters also aim to strengthen relations with Kyrgyzstan so that they do not have to go to Kazakhstan. It is aimed to reach Central Asia and China via Kyrgyzstan. However, for this, the Turkmenistan gate needs to be opened.
Comments
No comment yet.