Herebelow you can find the address of Dr. Akkan Suver :
“The road of peace is through
pipelines”
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Distinguished Guests,
I am honored to be at your
presence on behalf of the
Marmara Foundation on this
meaningful day for Turkey that
we lost our Great Leader Atatürk
70 years ago yesterday; and we
celebrate the 85th foundation
anniversary of our Republic.
Conflicts and varying balances
in Eurasia are on the agenda
again as a result of the recent
war between Georgia and Russia.
Huge transportation, energy and
technology projects are being
planned in the region for
oncoming period of two-three
decades. Eurasian countries will
come together in the light of
all these investments, called
the “New Silk Road”.
Struggle between the United
Kingdom and Russia for
domination in certain sectors
and parts of the world in the
19th century is known as the
first “Big Game” in history.
This time, geography of the “New
Big Game” is larger than the
first one including all the
lands from Asia to Europe and
from the Middle East to Siberia.
Countries along the ancient Silk
Road in Asia where is the oldest
living quarter of humanity, have
been the hub of history for
thousands of years. The Great
Silk Road which goes through the
lands from Istanbul to Xi'an
where has been the capital of
some of the most important
dynasties in Chinese history,
and has lost ground since the
beginning of the 17th century,
is on the global stage again in
the light of new transportation,
energy and geostrategic
projects. Russia, China, India,
Iran, Turkic countries, Turkey,
countries of the Black Sea
Region and European countries
are realizing many projects
which will connect Eurasia from
the end to end via railway
systems and various pipelines
and transportation
infrastructures. Turkey has
taken a giant step forward
laying the foundation of the
Marmaray Rail Tube Tunnel and
Commuter Rail Mass Transit
System in Istanbul, called the
Marmaray Project. So the
metaphor called the “Iron Silk
Road” looks like more realistic
in the light of this project.
Beijing will be connected to
London via the Kars-Tbilisi-Baku
Railway Project which will be
completed in seven years.
Marmaray which is called the
Iron Silk Road and will go
through Beijing to London
passing under the Sea of
Marmara, is one of the most
important synergy of Eurasia.
Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway
Project which will be linked to
the Marmaray Project, will
permit trains departing from
Britain to reach China via
Turkey non-stop. Consequently
goods of Central Asia and the
Far East will be transferred to
the west and the Caucasus will
become a “stop over” instead of
a crossing point.
When Europe understands the
importance of Eurasia, they will
also realize the importance of
Turkey and its great potential.
I also would like to talk about
the Mediterranean Union. Only
Turkey can take the Eurasian
Concept to the center of Europe
and the Mediterranean region.
Organization of the Black Sea
Economic Cooperation which was
established with the leadership
of Turkey, will be more and more
important in the future. The
United Kingdom, France and
Germany have become observer
member countries in this
organization. Turkey has to work
for Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan,
Turkmenistan and Tajikistan to
obtain their membership to this
kind of organizations, at least,
as observer members.
It is an absolute fact that
Turkey is unique as Eurasia’s
gate to Europe; and benefits of
a possible joint action between
Asia and Europe are so
important. Consequently Europe
must be informed about the
importance of Eurasia. And the
core of this importance is
Anatolia, Turkey.
Borders of Eurasian geography
are not important anymore in the
light of recent technologic
developments in communication,
information and transportation
sectors. Consequently all
countries of the region will be
affected by any activity in one
of them even if there is a far
distance between these
countries. Risks and threats
have completely become global.
All these huge projects can only
be realized with normalization
of conflicts such as Georgia
crisis, war in Afghanistan and
Iraq, border problems between
Pakistan and India, conflicts
with Iran, pressure of People’s
Republic of China on Xinjiang
Uyghur Autonomous Region and
North Korea issue. Despite the
situation that the war between
Georgia and Russia has become
the new big game with the
participation of the US and the
EU into the subject and
mediation efforts of Turkey,
there are some great projects
which can bring peace to the
entire world. These projects
stand for establishing peace in
the entire world with the new
networks between the world
capitals via railways, highways
and maglev trains.
The world falls on hard times
seeking new balances after the
fall of the Soviet Union.
Ex-players of the Cold War; the
US and Russia have just started
a “new challenge” after the war
in the Caucasus. Projects which
get over the entire Eurasian
region will be stuck out.
There are some concrete steps to
realize these projects. For
example, the Silk Road
Initiative (SRI) of the UNDP and
Central Asia Regional Economic
Cooperation (CAREC) were
established in the year of 1997.
Asia Road Transport Agreement
was signed with the
participation of 27 different
countries in 2004. Local
transportation lines, as a part
of the new continental
corridors, connect cities,
nuclear and industrial
facilities and agricultural and
industrial lands to these
continental lines. As a result
of all these lines, logistic
villages, high-speed trains and
other transportation instruments
will be raised. These projects
have come into life step by
step. For example,
Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway which
will cost 450 billion US Dollars
is going to be completed in the
year of 2011. The Marmaray
Project which will connect Asia
and Europe and secure direct
railway transportation, is going
to be active in 2010.
Despite this huge amount of
demands, there is no diversity
in terms of different sources.
Russia, the Caspian basin and
the Middle East are the only
centers to guarantee world
energy security. Russia has the
largest sources in the world in
terms of natural gas; and the
second largest one in terms of
petrol production after the
Middle East. Turkmenistan is
number two in the world in terms
of natural gas resources with
its 3 trillion cubic meters of
reserve; and they annually
export nearly 120 billion cubic
meters of gas. The Black Sea is
now called “the Black Sea Basin”
after Turkey’s intense studies
prospecting for oil and natural
gas. If we also consider the
Persian Gulf, Iran, Saudi Arabia
and Africa, 80 percent of
world’s total energy latitude is
around the land of Turkey. So
Turkey must turn its foreign
policy expressions, such as
defining itself as energy bridge
or energy transportation center,
to reality with the
establishment of new energy
lines.
Russia which has the domination
over Europe in terms of energy
is planning to construct, at
least, four new pipelines in
Eastern Asia via its Gazprom
Company. Construction of this
pipeline which will transfer
petrol supplies to Japan and
Pacific countries, started in
2006. It is planned to transfer
30 million tons of petrol
annually via this line which
encompass nearly two thousands
kilometers.
The future of Europe will be
envisaged in the light of energy
lines in Eurasia and the Black
Sea Region.
Thank you for your attention.