Turkey is seen as a gateway to Europe for the modern Silk Road, also known as the Belt and Road Initiative, which covers China, Kazakhstan, Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the Belt and Road Initiative to build a trade and infrastructure-based network, connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road trade routes. “One Belt, One Road,” refers to the “Silk Road Economic Belt,” which recreates the ancient, land-based Silk Road trade routes from China across Central Asia, into to the Middle East and Europe, also known as the “Modern Silk Road.”

The route of the modern Silk Road starts in China and passes through Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan and Georgia and will extend to Europe via Turkey, which constitutes one of the main corridors of the project, called Trans-Caspian Corridor. Also covering the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) Railway, a key to the Silk Road project expected to carry nearly 1 million passengers and 6.5 million tons of freight annually before unlocking a freight transportation potential of up to 50 million tons per year, the corridor will facilitate freight and passenger transportation from China to Europe, and Russia to South Asia and Africa.

more:   https://www.dailysabah.com/economy/2018/02/24/turkey-a-gateway-to-europe-for-modern-silk-road