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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has launched the controversial construction of a multibillion-dollar canal designed to bypass the bustling waters of the Bosphorus Strait, despite grim environmental warnings and major Russian security concerns.
In a rush of publicity, Erdogan last month laid a ceremonial foundation stone near Istanbul, starting construction of the 45-kilometer canal to connect the Black and Marmara Seas.
“This will be a whole new page in the advancement of Turkey,” said the Turkish leader in a speech at the opening ceremony. “On the path of this development, we will take a leap forward; it will save the Istanbul Bosporus waterway,” he added.
The canal will offer an alternative route from the Bosphorus Strait, which passes through Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul, and is one of the busiest waterways in the world.
Erdogan said the alternative channel would provide a more efficient, faster and safer passage.
“A nightmarish project”
But the opposition mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, was alarmed.
“I sweat when I talk about this channel because I can feel it’s a nightmare; I can feel it deep inside me,†Imamoglu said last month, “I have listened to dozens of briefings from scientists who all warn against this. ”
Imamoglu says the project threatens the city’s water supplies and risks wider environmental consequences in the delicate balance of the region’s interconnected seas.
“If you are connecting two marine bodies, you have to seek the advice of marine scientists, which they have not done,” said marine biologist Professor Cemal Saydam.
“Scientifically, it will devastate the Sea of ​​Marmara, and it will definitely devastate the Black Sea, and it will also change the entire water balance of the Mediterranean Sea, because they are interconnected seas,” said Saydam.
Big banks refuse to finance projects
The government dismisses these warnings, saying it has done the necessary research. But most of the big Turkish banks refuse to finance the canal, the cost of which is estimated at 60 billion euros, citing international commitments to only support environmentally friendly projects.
Lobbying, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the main opposition CHP party, warned international investors that any loan made to fund the canal would not be repaid if he took office. Support for Erdogan’s AKP party is at its lowest.
The canal also represents a point of tension with Russia. Erdogan said the 1936 Montreux International Convention, which limits the size and access of foreign warships to the Black Sea, will not cover the bypass.
Moscow considers the convention vital to maintaining the Black Sea as a Russian sphere of influence.
“The Montreux Convention is the only way that makes the Black Sea at the same time a Russian sea because the Russian navy is dominant there. And American warships are limited there,” said Huseyin Bagci, director of Foreign Policy Institute based in Ankara. . “So it’s good for Russia to have Montreux, maybe more than Turkey.”
NATO-Russian tensions intensified following the Russian occupation of Ukrainian territory in Crimea.
A bargaining chip with the Kremlin?
While questions remain as to whether funds exist to complete the canal, Zaur Gasimov of the German University of Bonn says Ankara sees the project as a bargaining chip with Moscow.
“The Montreux accord and the way Turkey is treating it also gives new possibilities for Ankara to promote its interests in its interaction with Russia. It also gives Ankara some leverage to influence the situation, the dynamics around the Black Sea region and even deepen cooperation with the United States, â€Gasimov said.
Analysts believe the importance of access to the Black Sea is likely to grow in the coming years, as NATO-Russia tensions escalate over Ukraine.
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