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Eurasianet (22 March 2021)

by Firuza Nahmadova 

Since shepherding Azerbaijan’s military victory last fall, Turkey has been on a Silk Road charm offensive. The challenge is turning talk into action.

With Turkey’s economy lurching from crisis to crisis, Ankara appears to be reconsidering its previous feeble attempts at staking a place on China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Azerbaijan is a key cog in the plans.

In 2015, Turkey proposed itself as the starting point for a "Middle Corridor" – stretching through the Caucasus and Central Asia – on the BRI, calling it the fastest route between China and Europe. Turkey worked with Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to facilitate trans-Caspian Sea routes and opened the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway across the Caucasus in 2017.

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