Istanbul Canal

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday named several of his party's candidates for March's nationwide election.

The ruling party will try to recover cities lost to the opposition's Republican People's Party, or CHP, five years ago — including the country's largest city, Istanbul, and the capital, Ankara.

Turkey will become a regional logistic hub, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on April 12, while revealing a "Transport and Logistics Master Plan" for 2053, which also includes the Canal Istanbul.

Turkey needs to build Kanal Istanbul as an alternative seaway as the Bosphorus Strait's capacity will not be able to handle the increasing vessel traffic in years to come, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu has said.

The Kanal Istanbul project has been "debated entirely" but is now at the stage of implementation, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Oct. 8.

Speaking at the 12th Transportation and Communication Week at Atatürk Airport in Istanbul, Erdoğan said the Bosphorus's inability to carry the increasing freight traffic led them to seek alternatives.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has vowed to complete the multibillion-dollar Kanal Istanbul project in six years, which he said will create two new earthquake-proof residential areas on the two banks of the canal, denouncing the opposition's campaign against the project.

Ekrem Imamoglu, Mayor of Istanbul criticizes the Canal Istanbul Project in a press conference on June 25. Photo: Istanbul Municipality

Imamoglu, from the main opposition social democrat Republican People's Party, CHP, which won Istanbul from Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party, AKP in 2019, said that experts' concerns about the mega-project must be heeded.

Turkey on June 26 laid the foundation for Canal Istanbul, a government mega-project connecting the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea and championed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

"Today we are opening a new page in the history of Turkey's development," Erdoğan said in a bridge ground-breaking ceremony in Sazlıdere, west of Istanbul.

Details emerged on June 13 of the first bridge to be built over Turkey's Canal Istanbul, a planned mega-project connecting the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea, aiming to take pressure off the crowded Bosphorus Strait.

Opposition İYİ (Good) Party leader Meral Akşener has criticized the government for not doing enough to protect the environment.

"Today, there is a government that does not protect its trees, forests and seas," she said, addressing her party's parliamentary group meeting on June 9.

The foundation of the major Kanal Istanbul project will be laid by the end of June, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said.

The canal will add more to Istanbul's strategic and geographical importance, Erdoğan said at the inauguration the state-of-the-art Çamlıca TV-Radio Tower in Istanbul on May 29.