Berlin–Baghdad railway.

 The Baghdad railway, also known as the Berlin–Baghdad railway was started in 1903 to connect Berlin with the then Ottoman city of Baghdad, from where the Germans wanted to establish a port on the Persian Gulf,[2] with a 1,600-kilometre (1,000 mi) line through modern-day Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. 

The latter would have provided access to the eastern parts of the German colonial empire, and avoided the Suez Canal, which was controlled by British and French interests.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin%E2%80%93Baghdad_railway#:~:text=The%20Baghdad%20railway%2C%20also%20known,establish%20a%20port%20on%20the