Minister Uraloğlu and industry leaders gather as Türkiye's 100-year roadmap takes shape

The "Türkiye's Century in Transport and Infrastructure Summit," organized by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure in cooperation with Albayrak Media, was held on Thursday, October 8, at the Istanbul Congress Center — putting Türkiye's next 100 years in transport and infrastructure on the table.

The summit, sponsored by Avrasya Tunnel, Cengiz Holding, Getir.com, Halkbank, IGA Airport, Limak Holding, TURKA, Turkcell, Turkish Airlines, Türk Telekom, VakıfBank, and Ziraat Bank, brought together Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, Albayrak Media General Manager Abdullah Hanönü, Turkish Airlines CEO Ahmet Olmuştur, Türk Telekom CEO Ebubekir Şahin, BTK Chairman Mehmet Koçyiğit, and leading experts from across the sector. From highways to aviation, and digital infrastructure to communication technologies, the road map for the "Türkiye Century" was assessed with the sector's top names.

Uraloğlu: "We have invested one-fifth of our GDP in transport and communication"

In the summit's centerpiece special session, Minister Uraloğlu answered questions from Yeni Şafak Editor-in-Chief Hüseyin Likoğlu, TVNET Editor-in-Chief Serhat İbrahimoğlu, and Z Raporu Editor-in-Chief Semra Karabaş. In the roughly hour-long session, Uraloğlu laid out Türkiye's current projects and future goals.

On the Development Road, he said: "It is a plan that traverses all of Iraq with a 1,200 km line, which we aim to equip first with railway and then with highway."

He also addressed the Middle Corridor and the Hejaz Railway project: "The Middle Corridor is the most valuable of the several routes going from the Far East to Europe. We will bring the Zangezur route to life as an alternative to Baku-Tbilisi-Kars. We also need to improve the Kars–Sivas section in our country. This corridor can operate under all conditions. Railways are the sector where emissions can be reduced fastest. As Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, and Türkiye, we signed an agreement to realize a modern Hejaz Railway. We have no shortfall on the Turkish side; there are gaps on the Jordanian and Syrian sides, and we are working on those as well." He added: "We have invested the equivalent of one-fifth of our GDP in transport and communication."

Hanönü: "We want to open new horizons for the future"

The summit's official opening was made by Albayrak Media General Manager Abdullah Hanönü. "In its march spanning more than a quarter-century, Albayrak Media has sought to be the voice of a Türkiye that works, produces, and grows, and has closely witnessed our country's change, transformation, and development," he said. "We have been organizing the Türkiye Century Summits for five years as part of that witness. We want not only to watch Türkiye's great march — from agriculture to trade, from family to transport — but to speak about it, discuss it, record it, and contribute to opening new horizons for the future."

Olmuştur: "The world's best transfer hub"

Turkish Airlines CEO Ahmet Olmuştur said: "From Australia to San Francisco, from Latin America to the Far East, Turkish Airlines continues its journey with convenient connections and its claim to be the world's best transfer hub."

Şahin: "The real issue is turning 5G into real benefit"

Türk Telekom CEO Ebubekir Şahin said: "As the operator with Türkiye's longest fiber network, we reached 571,000 km of fiber as of the first half of 2026. In the same period, we raised the fiber connection rate of our LTE base stations to 64%. The real issue is turning the high capacity and low latency that 5G offers into real benefit in production, services, and daily life. Transport is one of the most important areas for this."

Koçyiğit: "355 billion dollars invested in 24 years"

BTK Chairman Mehmet Koçyiğit said: "The Türkiye Century vision is built on the goal of a Türkiye that produces its own technology and has a say in its region and the world. Under the leadership of our President, approximately 355 billion dollars has been invested in our transport and communication infrastructure over the last 24 years. The National Technology Initiative aims to realize these investments with our own products."

The summit concluded with a gift presentation to Minister Uraloğlu and a family photo.