HABUR, Turkey -- Turkey's trade with Arabic nations is suffering because of the expansion of the Islamic State. Intensifying battles and the worsening law and order situation are making key land transportation routes too dangerous to drive through.

Habur in southeastern Turkey is much quieter these days, fewer trucks are passing through this border town. Before the Islamic State took control of the Iraqi town of Mosul in June, traffic heading into the neighboring country often stretched 20km. In those days, it could take as long as a day for a truck to get through Habur and reach the border checkpoint. Today, the waiting line is only several trucks long.

About 2,200 trucks drove through Habur every day before the situation in Iraq deteriorated, according to the International Transporters Association of Turkey. The number has fallen roughly 30% to around 1,450, as order has deteriorated in many of the areas along major border routes.

A 32-year-old Turkish truck driver was abducted June 5 by masked Islamic State militants in Mosul. After spending roughly a month in captivity, he was released unharmed. This incident made many Turkish truck drivers hesitant to drive to Iraq.

Some sections of the main road that stretches from the Turkish boarder to the northern Iraqi town of Erbil are only 10km away from areas controlled by the Islamic State. According to a local trucking company, the flow of goods has plunged 80% since the Islamic State occupied Mosul in June.

Collateral damage

Turkey's exports to Iraq dwindled nearly 40% compared to a year earlier in the July-August period.

"Turkey's annual exports to Iraq have been roughly $12 billion, but the amount will probably fall to $8 billion this year," said Ercument Aksoy, head of the Iraq-Turkey Business Council at the DEIK, or the Foreign Economic Relations Board.

The chaotic situation in Syria is also impacting Turkey's trade with the Arab world. A civil war between government forces and anti-government insurgents has been raging in Syria since 2011.

On top of this, the Islamic State's push into the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane, also known as Ain al-Arab, in the border region, has intensified tensions inside Turkey. The Kurdish minority in Turkey has stepped up calls for Ankara to intervene militarily to help defend Kobani from advancing Islamic extremists.

Before the chaos set in, a steady flow of trucks from Turkey passed through Syria to carry goods to Saudi Arabia and other Arabic countries. But the number of trucks traveling this route slumped from roughly 110,000 in 2010 to about 55,000 in 2013 as the situation became increasingly dangerous.

Some Turkish trucks are now delivering goods to Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region by sailing down the Suez Canal, but this method is about $2,000 more expensive per truck. There is also an option of going through Iran, but this is several thousand dollars more expensive than the route through Iraq.

The deteriorating situation in Iraq and Syria could seriously undermine Turkey's efforts to strengthen economic ties with the Middle East. It could also negatively impact on the Turkish economy, whose growth is forecast to slow down from the previous year to the below-4% range this year.