The Ticaret Bakanlığı (Türkiye’s Ministry of Trade) announced that trade between Türkiye and the member and observer countries of the Organization of Turkic States (TDT) has increased. The foreign trade volume with TDT members rose nearly 20-fold, from 871 million dollars in 2002 to 16.9 billion dollars at the end of 2025. In the January-July period of 2026, trade with these countries increased by 6.6% to 10.1 billion dollars. In 2025, Kazakhstan was Türkiye’s largest trading partner among the members, with 7.8 billion dollars in trade, followed by Azerbaijan (4.3 billion dollars), Uzbekistan (3.1 billion dollars), and Kyrgyzstan (1.6 billion dollars). Trade with the observer countries of Turkmenistan, Hungary, and the KKTC increased by 6.8% to 10 billion dollars in 2025 and by 5.1% to 6.1 billion dollars in the first seven months of 2026. Thus, as of July 2026, the annualized total volume reached 27.8 billion dollars. The ministry stated that the Middle Corridor has potential in terms of economic integration and global trade.
Why it matters
The data show that Türkiye’s economic relations with the TDT region have moved beyond symbolic cooperation and developed into a long-term, high-volume trade network. The fact that trade among the member countries is concentrated primarily in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan indicates that the increase is not evenly distributed across the region. Including the observer countries also demonstrates that economic relations are not limited solely to the organization’s members. Raising the Middle Corridor indicates that the announced figures are being assessed alongside transport links and economic integration; however, the statement does not explain which sectors are driving this increase in trade or how the distribution among the countries has changed.
Background
Türkiye is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: we have published 20 news stories mentioning it in the last 90 days, the latest dated August 31, 2026.