After the BTK project is fully brought to life, Turkey will keep working on alternative projects to establish a connection between Turkey and the southern Caucasus. To this end, Turkey has already rolled up its sleeves on alternative projects that will leave Armenia out of the picture.
The BTK railway will provide transport between Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, whereas the Batumi-Hopa railway will facilitate transportation between Turkey, Georgia and the Russian Federation, as the Sarp border at Hopa connects to a Russian Federation railway through Abkhazia.
In addition, the Samsun-Poti line is designed to connect Turkey and Georgia, while the Kars-Iğdır-Nakhchivan (KIN) project will connect Turkey and Azerbaijan.
With the KIN project at the stage of construction, a new railway line is being considered for the southern Caucasus. With KIN, the parties seek to connect Nakhchivan, isolated by Armenia, to Europe via a railway through Kars. Aliyev, who met with Erdoğan in the Nakhchivan autonomous region on June 4, noted that they held positive views of the KIN project and pledged to provide the necessary funds for the project.
For the realization of the KIN project, whose feasibility studies were completed in the 1990s by Turkey, a large fund of $750 million is needed. Azerbaijan has already provided $220 million for the Georgian leg of the project. During Erdoğan's visit, his first visit to the region after a 16-year hiatus, the parties also agreed on regular flights between Kars, Nakhchivan and Baku. In this way, Kars, the site of an Azerbaijani consulate that opened on April 12, 2004, will be connected to Nakhchivan via air and rail routes.
After the Hasret Bridge, which connects the Dilucu border gate and Nakhchivan, opened on May 28, 1992, the KIN project will be the second greatest project to connect Turkey and Nakhchivan.
The ongoing Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani soil and its lack of proper responses to Turkey's attempts to reach out have hindered the emergence of a stable and secure environment in the southern Caucasus since the Cold War. That the Turkish-Armenian border gate remains closed and the possibility that the tension between Turkey and Armenia will not be alleviated even if the gate is opened has led Turkey and Azerbaijan to exclude Armenia and seek alternative energy and communications projects. For this reason, Armenia, which suffers from isolation in the region, needs to take swift actions to maintain cooperation and friendship with Turkey and Azerbaijan. Such steps are in Armenia's best interest.
