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Infrastructure: Transportation and
Telecommunications in Turkey
Transportation Overview
The development of efficient domestic
transportation systems in Turkey has been slowed by long distances, difficult
terrain, and low investment. Major investment projects are expected to improve
the national road and railroad systems by 2010.
Roads in Turkey
Roads are Turkey’s most important domestic
transportation system, although only 130,000 kilometers of paved roads were in
service in 2004, and little expansion has occurred since the 1950s. More than
250,000 kilometers of existing roads are unpaved. The state and provincial
system includes about 65,000 kilometers of roads, of which 1,900 kilometers are
classified as highways. Main highways radiate from Ankara in central Anatolia;
Istanbul and İzmir in the west; Adana in the south; and Erzurum and Diyarbakır
in the east. The most important recent addition to the system is the
Ankara-Istanbul toll road. Because the number of motor vehicles increased by
more than 5 million between 1983 and 2004, Turkey’s city streets are very
congested. In 2004 several major road and bridge projects were under discussion
to link Anatolia more effectively with Europe.
Railroads in Turkey
In 2004 Turkey had only 8,671 kilometers of
railroad, all standard gauge and mostly in service for more than 60 years. Most
major population centers are connected by rail. From a ring around the Anatolian
Plateau, rail lines radiate to Zonguldak and Samsun on the Black Sea; Istanbul,
İzmir, and Bandırma in the west; and via Adana to Syria and Iraq in the south.
Three lines go into eastern Anatolia. The state-owned system is slow and
unprofitable. In 2004 only 4 percent of freight transport and 2 percent of
passenger transport were by rail. Between 1990 and 2003, passenger trips
decreased by 50 percent. Planned improvements include limited privatization,
upgrading of the Istanbul-Ankara trunk line to include high-speed trains, and
improved rail links between Anatolia and Thrace. The Marmaray project, scheduled
for completion in 2008, aims to improve rail transportation through Istanbul. It
will include a railroad tunnel under the Bosporus. Plans call for some private
railroad operations to supplement the state system in the future. Ankara,
Istanbul, and İzmir have metro systems; lines in Ankara and İzmir were expanding
in the early 2000s.
Ports of Turkey
Turkey’s ports have suffered from overcrowding
and inefficiency. The main facilities are located at Antalya, İskenderun, and
Mersin on the Mediterranean; Gemlik, Istanbul, and İzmit in the Marmara region;
İzmir on the Aegean Sea; and Hopa, Samsun, and Trabzon on the Black Sea. The
ports of Istanbul, İzmir, İzmit, and Mersin are particularly vital because they
are outlets for large industrial regions. The state railroad manages all the
largest ports, but six of them were on the government’s privatization list in
2005. In the early 2000s, Turkey’s 11-million-ton merchant marine has carried a
decreasing share of the total freight passing through its ports; in 2004 less
than 30 percent of port traffic was under the Turkish flag. Passenger ships in
Istanbul are important commuter carriers.
Inland Waterways of Turkey
Turkey has about 1,200 kilometers of inland
waterways, none of which offers a vital line of transportation. Not included in
that amount is the channel formed by the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, and
the Bosporus, linking the Black Sea with the Mediterranean Sea and forming one
of the most important water connections in the world. In the early 2000s, safety
and environmental factors have made expansion of traffic through this heavily
traveled route problematic.
Civil Aviation and Airports
in Turkey
Of Turkey’s 87 mainly state-owned airports with
paved runways, 16 have runways longer than 3,000 meters. Some 14 heliports were
in operation in 2004. The three largest airports are located at Istanbul,
Ankara, and İzmir. Istanbul-Atatürk, the largest airport, was expanded in 2000,
as was the primary tourist airport at Ankara. The state-owned national airline,
Turk Hava Yollari (THY, Turkish Airlines), is a state-controlled enterprise that
flies from Ankara and Istanbul to 79 international destinations, including major
cities in Europe and the United States. In 2004 THY, which is scheduled for
privatization, flew 11.4 million passengers. Private airline activity increased
in the early 2000s, carrying about 2 million passengers in 2004.
Turkish Pipelines
In 2004 Turkey had 3,177 kilometers of natural
gas pipelines and 3,562 kilometers of oil pipelines. In the early 2000s,
controversial pipeline issues were Turkey’s role in new routes bringing oil and
natural gas from the flourishing Caspian Sea region into Europe and the
configuration of a new pipeline that would connect Russia with the Mediterranean
and bypass the Bosporus. The potentially lucrative Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC)
line, 1,000 kilometers of which passes through Turkey, began bringing oil from
the Caspian in 2005. That line is advantageous because it bypasses both Russia
and the crowded Bosporus corridor. Because the BTC line is considered
insufficient for future volume, Turkey is involved in international discussions
of several other pipeline routes that would bypass the Bosporus.
Telecommunications in Turkey
In the 1980s and 1990s, Turkey’s
telecommunications systems underwent substantial modernization, including nearly
complete digitization and advanced intercity trunk lines. In 2004 some 19
million main telephone lines were in use. A satellite system links users in
remote areas. The use of cellular telephones has increased rapidly since the
late 1990s, reaching more than 50 percent of the population in 2004. In the
early 2000s, three private mobile services, the largest with more than 20
million subscribers, were operating. However, in the early 2000s demand has
exceeded the supply of Internet and data services. In 2005 an estimated 10.2
million people were using the Internet. Initial steps for the privatization of
Turk Telekom, the state-owned telecommunications monopoly, were taken in 2005.
For an in-depth analysis of The State and
Evolution of Fixed or Mobile Radio Communications in Turkey see:
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