(ANSA) - ISTANBUL, JULY 15 - The mayor of Istanbul, EkremImamoglu, has appealed to the Ministry of the Environment and Urban Planning of Turkey against the project of Kanal Istanbul, the 43 km artificial canal between the Black Sea and the Marmara Sea which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to implement to divert maritime traffic from the Bosphorus.
The idea, defined as "crazy" by the Ankara leader himself at his presentation, almost a decade ago, has long been criticized by the opposition and environmentalists for the damage it could cause to the ecosystem and the risks of a new mass real estate speculation, in a metropolis that it already has 16 million inhabitants.
According to Erdogan, however, the canal "serves to protect the Bosphorus from a serious disaster", which could be caused by the massive traffic of ships and oil tankers that daily cross the sea strait which divides Istanbul into two.
(HANDLE).
Turkey: mayor Istanbul against artificial canal
2020-07-16T21:18:37.720Z
The mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, has appealed to the Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning of Turkey against the project of Kanal Istanbul, the 43 km artificial canal between the Black Sea and the Marmara Sea that the President ... (HANDLE)
