Turkey's crazy project
A giant new canal for the world\u2019s biggest ships is the most ambitious engineering plan yet proposed by Turkey\u2019s President Erdogan, whose massive infrastructure projects have already changed the face of his country. The proposed waterway would slice through Istanbul, creating in effect a second Bosphorus, the busy shipping lane that is now the only outlet from the Black Sea. The president himself has called the project \u201ccrazy\u201d. But he says it would \u201csave the future of Istanbul\u201d, easing traffic in the Bosphorus and reducing the risk of a terrible accident there. But the plan has met a storm of opposition. Istanbul\u2019s mayor says it would \u201cmurder\u201d the historic city. Critics claim the canal would be an environmental disaster, cost billions of dollars that Turkey can\u2019t afford \u2013 and provoke severe tensions with Russia, which is determined to preserve existing rules on traffic into and out of the Black Sea. Will the canal go ahead? Who would lose \u2013 and who would benefit?
Tim Whewell reports from a divided Istanbul.
(Image: Turkish coastal safety patrol boats in the Bosphorus, Istanbul. Credit: Y\xf6r\xfck I\u015f\u0131k)