On the Trail of the Silk Road

Fifteen thousand kilometers in 80 days. This is how long it took Sabina Fati, a Romanian journalist, to cross the Silk Road on her own when she embarked on the trek on April 25. The historic trade route spans China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, and Bulgaria, and was historically the commercial route to connect the East with the West.

It was during the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) in China that the route came into prominence for trading silks, where the road derives its name. As trade developed to the end of the 14th century, it was not just silks and other goods that were exchanged but philosophies and religion as well from the Chinese, Persian, Indian, Arab, and Roman civilizations.

It was this rich history that served as one point of inspiration for Fati, who received financial support of the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation (BST) to complete this project. “I began my journey in Xi’an [central China], as this was the traditional starting point of the Silk Road,” Fati said.

Another inspiration was to compare how relations between the countries along the Silk Road had evolved or in some cases devolved. “When the Silk Road flourished it was either under Chinese, Persian, or Turkish power,” she said. “Now there are little kings and all want to be in power, and they can’t organize to cooperate and have some rules to have free trade, commerce, and ideas on this road.”

While during the height of the silk trade, there was a flow of goods, merchants, travelers, and myriad characters, Fati experienced a different Silk Road. Closed borders and political disputes with neighboring territories made obtaining visas an arduous task. She found it nearly impossible to cross from Tajikistan into Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan to Uzbekistan, and Uzbekistan to Turkmenistan. At the same time, these borders are also a transit hub for drug smuggling and human trafficking to and through Afghanistan.

As a female journalist traveling alone, Fati also had attracted the curiosity of residents she met. “In Turkmenistan, people would run when I tried to talk to them,” she recalls. In China, it was a similar situation, Fati adds but it was different in Iran. “In Iran, people came to talk to you about their situation. They expect a big social change in their situation because almost 50 percent of people are under 30. In the future, it might be possible to see some changes due to the demographic.”

But what of the future of the Silk Road? There have been talks of it being restored. In 2011, U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton proposed the Silk Road Initiative to economically develop Afghanistan and turn it into a center of commerce.

“Turkmen gas fields could help meet both Pakistan’s and India’s growing energy needs and provide significant transit revenues for both Afghanistan and Pakistan,” she said at the launch. “Tajik cotton could be turned into Indian linens. Furniture and fruit from Afghanistan could find its way to the markets of Astana or Mumbai and beyond.”

Fati is skeptical that this complex strategy could work, however. “It is very complicated to impose those standards for free commerce and trade given the closed borders, security, and political situations in the countries involved,” she said.

This was a BST project supported by Radio Free Europe and Freedom House Romania.