Turkey launches canal project amid environmental and regional concerns | Voice of America

ISTANBUL – In a rush of publicity, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan laid a foundation stone near Istanbul, starting construction of a 45-kilometer canal connecting the Black and Marmara Seas. Erdogan said the project would usher in a new era for Istanbul and for Turkey.

“This is going to be a whole new page in the development of Turkey. On the path of this development, we will take a leap forward, ”he said, adding:“ This will save the Bosphorus waterway in Istanbul. “

The canal will provide an alternative route from the Bosphorus, which passes through Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul, and is one of the busiest waterways in the world.

Erdogan said the canal would provide a more efficient, faster and safer passage. But this month, the opposition mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, expressed alarm.

“I sweat when I talk about this channel, because I can feel it’s a nightmare, I can feel it deep inside me,” he said. “Because I have listened to dozens of briefings from scientists who all warn against this.”

The mayor warned that the project threatens the city’s water supplies and risks wider environmental consequences in the delicate balance of the region’s interconnected seas.

Marine biologist Cemal Saydam, saying the government was ignoring scientists, said such concerns were well founded.

“If you are connecting two marine bodies, you have to seek the advice of marine scientists, which they haven’t done,” Saydam said. “Scientifically, it will certainly devastate the Sea of ​​Marmara, and it will devastate the Black Sea, for sure, and it will also change the entire water balance of the Mediterranean Sea, because there are interconnected seas.

The government dismisses these warnings, saying it has done the necessary research. But most of Turkey’s major banks refuse to finance the canal, which is estimated to cost $ 65 billion, citing international commitments to only support environmentally friendly projects.

The canal is also a point of tension with Russia. Erdogan said the canal was not covered by the 1936 Montreux International Convention. The convention limits the size of foreign warships and their access to the Black Sea to 21 days.

Moscow considers the convention vital to limit NATO’s naval presence and maintain the sea as its sphere of influence. Tensions between NATO and Russia have intensified since Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian territory in early 2014.

While questions remain as to whether funds exist to complete the canal, Zaur Gasimov of the German University of Bonn said Ankara sees the project as a bargaining chip with Moscow.

“It would open some leverage for Ankara,” Gasimov said. “This would open up a new field of negotiation between Moscow and Ankara, and it would give new possibilities for Ankara to promote its interests in its interaction with Russia.”

Analysts believe that the importance of access to the Black Sea is likely to increase in the coming years, as tensions between NATO and Russia escalate over Ukraine.

Next week, the United States is due to conduct a major naval exercise with Ukraine in the Black Sea.