Crossroads Asia | Diplomacy | Central Asia

The Middle Corridor’s Energy Dimension: A New Phase in Turkiye-Kazakhstan Ties

Kazakh oil and its connection to the Middle Corridor are placing the Turkiye-Kazakhstan relationship in a more critical position within Eurasian energy geopolitics.

With the sixth meeting of the Turkiye-Kazakhstan High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council, held in Astana on May 14, relations between the two countries are increasingly moving onto a more strategic footing. During the visit, 13 agreements were signed covering trade, investment, transportation, defense industry, and culture. The fact that the visit took place ahead of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) summit in Turkistan also gave these contacts a broader regional significance. 

Energy emerged as the central theme of the meetings in Astana. Kazakh oil and its connection to the Middle Corridor are placing the Turkiye-Kazakhstan relationship in a more critical position within Eurasian energy geopolitics.

Although Kazakhstan is one of the world’s leading crude oil producers, the routes through which its oil reaches global markets remain a strategic issue for Astana. The growing uncertainty around northern routes following the Russia-Ukraine War has made Kazakhstan’s need to turn to alternative export channels more visible. Disruptions along traditional trade routes and the broader climate of geopolitical uncertainty have increased interest in Trans-Caspian routes, while also making the goal of transporting Kazakh oil to world markets via Turkiye more meaningful.

Turkiye, for its part, has long sought to position itself as a more active hub in connecting the energy resources of the Caspian basin to the global economy. In this context, projects involving Kazakh oil and Turkmen natural gas have periodically come to the agenda. During the meetings in Astana, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s statement that Turkiye would like to transport larger volumes of Kazakh oil to global markets via its territory, together with the signing of agreements between KazMunayGas and TPAO on joint oil and gas projects, gave concrete form to this approach. TPAO’s entry into Kazakhstan’s energy market should be read not as a merely symbolic step of cooperation, but as an indication of Ankara’s search for a more permanent, institutional, and effective role in Central Asia’s energy equation.

The fact that the Middle Corridor was discussed in Astana in connection with energy transportation strengthened the strategic dimension of the visit. By describing the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, also called the Middle Corridor, as “the present-day equivalent of the Silk Road” and highlighting its potential role in carrying energy resources to the West, Erdogan signaled that Turkiye sees the route as more than a trade and transport corridor. In this framework, the Middle Corridor is not merely a transport route designed to increase trade between Turkiye and Central Asia. It is also emerging as part of a wider geopolitical architecture linking Central Asia, the Caspian Sea, and the South Caucasus.

For this reason, the agreements between Turkiye and Kazakhstan should be considered alongside Caspian crossings and connectivity projects in the South Caucasus. The........

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