Turkish president attends opening of new high-speed rail line

By Busra Nur Cakmak

ANKARA (AA) - Turkiye on Saturday opened a high-speed rail line between two of its central provinces, with the country's president attending the event.

Speaking in Karaman province, roughly 100 kilometers (62 miles) southwest of the line's other terminus in Konya, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that under his government, Turkiye had renewed nearly all of the rail lines previously built since the days of the Ottoman Empire, totaling nearly 11,000 km.

Adding that with additional railways built over the past two decades, this figure had risen to over 13,000, the Turkish president said there were plans to extend the country's newest rail line further east to the southern province of Osmaniye, over 260 km.

He also noted efforts to make another ongoing railway line from the capital Ankara to the eastern Sivas province an "international route" by extending it to the country's eastern border.

A separate high-speed line that will connect Istanbul to the Kapikule border crossing with Bulgaria will be "very important, especially for our exports" Erdogan said, giving further information on other lines under construction as well.

The event also marked the opening of a medical and dental faculty in Karaman, as well as public housing.

Erdogan later attended a meeting of the Justice and Development (AK) Party's provincial advisory council, where he announced that the Konya-Karaman line would provide free service for a week​​​​​​​.