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    "localId": "294550265",
    "label": "Central Intelligence Agency, Situation Report 1/1, Turkey",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Central Intelligence Agency, Situation Report 1/1, Turkey",
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        {
            "day": 22,
            "logicalDate": "1948-12-22",
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{
    "seq": 65,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
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    "ocrText": "SECRET\nAPPENDIX D\nTRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATIONS\n1. RAILWAYS\nThe railways in Turkey are now state-owned * and state-operated, under the admin-\nistration of the Ministry of Communications. They may be divided into two categories:\nthose built before commencement of the republican era in 1923 and subsequently\nacquired by the state, and those constructed by the state. Construction work now in\nprogress will extend rail service to the border of Iran, replace a narrow-gauge sector\n(on the line running northeastward toward the USSR) with standard gauge (4'8 1/2\")\ntrack, make it possible to go from Turkey direct to Iraq without having to cross Syria,\nand provide rail service for certain important towns (e.g., Maras and Gaziantep).\nDuring the past twenty-five years, highway construction and maintenance have\nbeen subordinated to the building of railways. Now, although the government an-\nnounced in 1945 a 20-year plan for railway expansion, it appears that the previous\ntendency will be reversed. The government apparently reached the conclusion that\nhighways are of more urgent necessity after recent talks with US experts, including\nmembers of the Aid Mission.\nLines constructed prior to the republican era were built chiefly with foreign capital\nand largely for economic reasons, although the Germans who constructed the section\nof the Berlin-Baghdad line in what is now Turkey undoubtedly had imperialist objec-\ntives in view as well. Both strategic and economic considerations, however, have been\ntaken into account by the Turkish Government in the construction of all lines laid down\nsince 1923. The entire system, with insignificant exceptions, is single track and thus\nvery vulnerable to disruptive tactics. Its vulnerability is made greater by the dearth or\nabsence of alternate routes (see map) and the great number of tunnels and bridges\nmade necessary by the rugged Turkish terrain.\nMost Turkish lines are standard European gauge (4'8 1/2\"). Exceptions are narrow-\ngauge lines from Samsun to Carsamba, Bursa to Mudanya, Ilica to Palamutluk, and\nErzurum to Sarikamis (the latter now being in process of replacement by standard-\ngauge trackage), and the strategically important broad-gauge, Russian-built line from\nSarikamis to the Soviet border, where it connects with the Soviet rail system. The\nTurkish railways are also connected with those of all the other neighboring countries:\nBulgaria, Greece, Syria, and Iraq, although-as already indicated-the line to Iraq\npasses through Syria.\nThe railway administrative system is unwieldy, and operating efficiency and main-\ntenance are poor. These deficiencies are now being remedied to some extent, through\nthe import of needed equipment (much of it US-manufactured and purchased with US\nfinancial aid) and with the assistance of expert US advisers.\n* The only exception is a short narrow-gauge mineral-ore line from Ilica to Palamutluk near\nthe Aegean coast.\n57\nSECRET\nNARA"
}