THE EFFECTS OF THE SYRIAN CIVIL WAR ON LOGISTICS PROCESSES: HOW THE WAR CHANGED ROAD TRANSPORT ACTIVITIES BETWEEN TURKEY AND MIDDLE EAST COUNTRIES

The civil war that started in Syria in 2011 has affected not only Syria but the surrounding countries, as well, causing substantial changes particularly in these countries’ commercial activities. These changes led to various problems especially in cities bordering Syria and with regards to the road transport of logistics companies that perform logistics activities heavily with the Middle East. Despite efforts from authorities to find solutions for overcoming the challenges, the transport sector’s problems have yet to be completely solved due to several reasons including international agreements, increased transport costs, difficulty in adapting into new routes and changes in the international agreement. In this paper, the problems that the Syrian Civil War caused in the logistics sector in the city of Hatay, the alternative routes and issues related to these routes, efforts to find new solutions and their results are explaine