Owner of Özer Transport, Abdullah Özer, As We Are Living In Turkey, We Must Fight First To Be Able To Drive By Vehicles With Turkish Plate On The Roads Of The World

“VEHICLES WITH FOREIGN PLATE CARRY THE EXPORT OF OUR COUNTRY”

Özer, who carries out transportation with vehicles with Azerbaijan license plates in addition to vehicles with Turkish license plates, emphasizes that the problems in the transportation sector can be solved with representatives in the sector while talking about the problems they experience.

Stating that 90% of the points served by Özer Transportation, which is based in Trabzon and carries out international transportation, are Central Asian countries, Özer said that; “We are a small company. In the last period, we shrank a little more due to the lack of ownership of the transportation sector. In order to continue our work, we migrated to the sector like many companies. We are in Azerbaijan and we have vehicles with Azerbaijan license plates. When you have a vehicle with Azerbaijan license plate, you do not pay any toll when entering Azerbaijan. For example, if you bring a flammable cargo to Azerbaijan with a vehicle with Turkish license plate, you have to pay approximately 600 dollars. However, vehicles with Azerbaijan license plates can pass without paying this fee. If we live in Turkey, we must first struggle to travel around the world with vehicles with Turkish license plates. We had to open a company in Azerbaijan in the middle of last year.”

“The Turkish Transport Sector Has Not Kept For”

Mentioning that they went to Azerbaijan in order not to experience transition document problems from Turkey to Russia and the Turkish organization countries, Özer said: "We had to migrate to the sector. Our country is the export country, many sectors had to be closed due to the pandemic. The shipping industry has not stopped in any country in the world. The transport sector worked like the health sector, taking the needs of people and delivering them from one country to another. But unfortunately, the Turkish transport sector, which even the pandemic could not stop, stopped the Kazakhstan transit pass document application for six months. For six months, the Turkish shipping industry could not go to Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, where thousands of transporters work. Kazakhstan did not issue a six-month transit pass. Since there was no transit document for six months of 2021, we had to go to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan via Azerbaijan with RORO, which costs 2500 USD more. While Turkmenistan's closure of the border due to coronavirus, the route conditional transit pass document applied only to vehicles with Turkish license plates, put the Turkish transport sector in a deadlock, unfortunately, our authorities did not protect our transport sector in this process.

“Drivers Working in Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway Region Are Victims”

Stating that the Turkish transportation sector carries the country's exports with its vehicles and foreign exchange comes from these cargoes, Özer said: “These are important, but the reason why I and hundreds of my friends are in different countries is because of the sector's problems. Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway was built. We are not against any transport model, of course, any transport model. However, in order to achieve the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway target, hundreds of companies and thousands of drivers working in that region were victimized. The shipping industry has been left alone for the last two years.”

“We Cannot Transit Through the Territories of the Countries of the Organization of Turkish States”

Emphasizing that they cannot transit through the territory of the Organization of Turkish States, Özer said that; “There is a Southern Corridor via Iran, Turkmenistan is closed. There is the Middle Corridor and the North Corridor. The Northern Corridor passes through Russia to Kazakhstan. Since it is the most economical way, we will disperse to Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan from here. In the Middle Corridor, you will come through Azerbaijan and pass through the Caspian Sea to Kazakhstan, and you will disperse from Kazakhstan. However, in the Middle Corridor, Turkish vehicles pay a toll when entering Azerbaijan. If it comes with a normal load, a toll is 350-400 dollars, if it is a combustible load, it reaches 600-700 dollars. A thousand 900 dollars will be given to the ship on departure and arrival. For example, two transporters, a Turk and a Kyrgyz, are loading products from the same factory in Istanbul to the same person in Kyrgyzstan. The Turkish transporter will have to go the 2 thousand 500 dollars more expensive way, because there is no other way, it is unclaimed. We became victims of a line where we could not work continuously for six months. What happened while we were victims? Georgian and Kazakh transporters hauled the loads. Uzbekistan had a great vehicle structuring. There is no vehicle left in Europe, it came to Uzbekistan. Turkish transporters used to attract 80 percent of the Uzbekistan market, now the opposite has happened. As Turkish transporters are exposed to inequalities and shipped to expensive routes, vehicles with foreign license plates carry our country's exports.”

“Problems in the Transport Industry are Solved with Representatives in the Industry”

Stating that there are nearly 600 vehicle exits from the Sarp Border Gate to Central Asia, Özer states that 450 of them are vehicles with foreign license plates. Özer said that; “Our country is a paradise for vehicles with foreign license plates. Because we don't have a system to allocate the punishment they eat. I tried this myself. I entered Kapıkule and exited through Sarp Border Gate. I didn't pay anything including toll. I went, I came and there was a 120 lira highway toll in the system. I paid this money, but there are 450 vehicles coming out every day. Let's pay 50 percent of 450 vehicles. This too is a loss. If all the world's transporters stop for three days, the visas and dozvola that pose a problem will be removed. Those in the solution authority cannot meet with those who have the problem. Problems in the transport sector are solved by representatives within the sector. A Logistics Coordination Board is being established, there is no official of UND, which has been the umbrella organization of the industry for 47 years. Deputy Ministers represent us, if the Deputy Ministers were able to master these problems, we would not have the problem.”