A Crazy Projekt for Istanbul
Before the upcoming parliamentary elections on this Sunday Turkey’s Prime Minister and leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had announced its “Crazy Project” which is a project to build an artificial channel on the European side of Istanbul between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. When people vote this Sunday they will also be voting for whether or not they want two Istanbuls since the new channel will be dividing the city into an island and two peninsulas.
It has been a busy couple of weeks in Istanbul since on Sunday the 12th the parliamentary elections are coming up. Wherever you walk on the streets people hand you dozens of flyers on why you should vote for one party or another as well as on what independent candidates promise to achieve.
From past experiences we have grown quite accustomed to sex-tape scandals of some party members and to such rather less political issues to keep our agendas busy before an upcoming election. We have even trained ourselves to ignore the acoustic pollution caused by party buses taking over the streets. However, we had never heard anything before like the “Channel Project” announced by the Justice and Development Party’s leader and our Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and launched as the “Crazy Project”.
New channel is part of “Crazy Project”
Announced a couple of months ago, the project involves building a new channel 45-50 meters long on the European side of Istanbul between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea with a depth of approximately 25 meters. Apparently Istanbul will take its place among other examples of where mankind has so forcefully taken nature under its domination. There will be highways and railroads as well as the third bridge built over the channel.
The designers of this crazy project claim that once the ships start passing from this new channel, the Bosphorus for which Istanbul is quite famous will become a place which residents can use for activities such as water sports. There has not yet been much discussion about how or whether this will be compatible with the Montreux Convention.
New project a gift to Istanbul?
The Prime Minister has alos described this project as a gift to the Çatalca district of Istanbul on the west part of the city on the European side, since within the project there are congress and exhibitions centers, sport complexes, an airport as well as new housing areas planned to be built. However, there is not much clarity on whether this will be a project which will rather benefit the fund-holders and further overpopulate an already overpopulated city. There are also many environmental issues involved in such a restructuring of our city. Although they claim that the project will start first with a two-year study and planning program it is not clear enough who will have a say in the process.
It is anticipated that people’s decisions for the elections on Sunday will be shaped based on more pressing matters including the economy, planned constitutional amendments and the resolution of the Kurdish issue; however particularly we the Istanbulites should also take into consideration whether we want another Istanbul to be created…
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