After the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Palestine wars, as well as the Houthi attacks in Yemen, the Far East route ceased to be reliable, and global supply processes began to be reconsidered. Last week, when the escalating tension between Israel and Iran gained a new dimension with hundreds of missile and UAV attacks, even civilian aircraft traffic from the Middle East to Europe began to proceed through the lines drawn through Türkiye.

When the "TRACECA Southern Corridor" became inoperable due to security problems, the "TRACECA Middle Corridor" seemed to be on the agenda again.

Years ago, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway line was built with great enthusiasm. The opportunity to transport freight by rail from China to Paris was created. However, China made a train to test whether the route could operate effectively. The train departed from Shanghai and went to Europe via the Central Corridor, and it took more than a month to reach Paris. Undoubtedly, this attempt failed because it fell on the cold face of legislation in the countries along the route.

"Concerning the Preliminary Data Exchange Between the Government of the Republic of Türkiye-Azerbaijan and the Government of Georgia for the Facilitation of Customs Transit Procedures within the Scope of the Baku-Tbilisi Kars Railway Project," signed in Baku on 18 August 2022, published in the Official Gazette dated 7 April and approved by the Decision No. 8322. "Agreement" was put into effect. The date of approval of the agreement seems to be a reflection of the will to make the Middle Corridor work.

For this reason, we read the agreement text with a different excitement. In the 4th paragraph of the 4th article of the Agreement titled "Cooperation in Railway Customs Border Crossings," it is stated that "Unless otherwise stated according to the risk analysis systems in the national legislation of the Contracting States, goods in international transit are, in principle, not subject to physical inspection." Although there is a clause that means, "I can subject the goods to physical examination in line with my risk analysis data," it is stipulated that the goods will not be subjected to physical examination in principle.

It seems that the entire agreement text, except for this paragraph, contains phrases such as "aims to simplify," "efforts to present," "methods of cooperation," "may share X-ray images," etc., which do not fully bind the parties.

Although it is stated in the article titled "Information Exchange and Implementation," which forms the basis of the agreement, that uninterrupted preliminary electronic information exchange will be organized regarding all goods transited within the territory of the party states within the scope of railway transportation, the list of customs authorities to be contacted for this purpose will be determined. A 6-month pilot project will be carried out. A timetable should be included in the agreement.

It can be said that "International agreements do not contain definitive provisions, such as the text of a law. Wishes are expressed. Diplomatic language requires this." Then, in the 1st paragraph of the 5th article of the "TIR Convention," "Goods carried in sealed road vehicles, combinations of vehicles or containers are, as a general rule, not subject to inspection at the Customs administrations en route.", or in the 7th article, "Relevant foreign organizations It is necessary to evaluate how the definitive provisions stating "Samples of TIR carnets sent to guarantor organizations by international organizations or institutions are not subject to import and export taxes and duties, import and export prohibitions and restrictions" are written. Or "1." in the 1st and 4th paragraphs of Article 11 of the "Common Transit Convention." As a general rule, the identity of the goods is ensured by sealing. 4. It is necessary to explain how the provisions that leave discretion to the administration, such as "The administration of departure may waive sealing if the description of the goods in the declaration information or supplementary documents makes it possible to easily identify the goods, taking into account other identification measures," are included in an international agreement.

However, the problem is not the early sharing of data before transit passages but the state structures in the route countries where heavy bureaucracy and corruption are at their peak. Whether the route is drawn through China-Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan-Georgia-Türkiye or China-Tajikistan-Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Georgia-Azerbaijan-Türkiye, the result will not change.

On the other hand, it is a known fact that railways operated as economic state enterprises around the world are at low productivity levels. Even in Turkey, the share of private management in the transportation of export and transit cargo by train is very high, and TCDD always fails in this regard. The share of railways in our export transportation can be at most 1-2 percent.

If the "Middle Corridor" is to be effectively implemented, agreements written in diplomatic language must not be signed. The ethical rules of all employees of the mentioned route countries, from the highest manager to the lowest public official, who will take part in the operation should be rewritten, and these employees should be removed from the "classic civil servant" format and equipped with "business operator" qualifications.