Çiğdem Toker: 'Kanal İstanbul nasıl bir ihtiyaç?' 02/05/25 Halil Ferah ile Sesli Köşe
HALİL FERAH İLE SESLİ KÖŞE
[{'start': '0.000', 'end': '2.000', 'text': 'It\'s good to be clear.  If the issue in question is a profiteering project that will cause ecological destruction, change the fate of a metropolis with a population of 16 million in every way, is located on fault lines and carries a tsunami risk, so much the better.\n\nMinister of Environment and Urbanization Murat Kurum said the day before that “it is not on our agenda” regarding the Istanbul Canal, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdülkadir Uraloğlu said, “We will definitely do it. We have not given up.”  When he was reminded of the Institution\'s statement (which was actually a sharp contradiction), he stated that it was not currently on the agenda.    It is no\n\nsurprise that Uraloğlu does not embarrass his counterpart and looks out for him.  In any case, the expression “It is not on our agenda” is a vague and somewhat slippery expression.  If the person saying it is a politician, bureaucrat or technocrat, “It is not on our agenda,” it provides room for maneuver and buys the necessary time.  Because a topic that is not on the agenda due to public reactions or any other reason may come to the agenda two hours later.\n\n\nWhy did the institution hesitate, why was Uraloğlu able to speak so openly and clearly? This part of the matter must be related to the internal balances of the ruling party.    What\n\nconcerns us as citizens is to hear once again that the determination for the Canal Istanbul project, which will further strengthen domestic/foreign capital and is a mega project that does not include any public benefit, continues.  Therefore, Uraloğlu\'s statements;  It helped to understand that the imprisoned Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor and CHP’s presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu made a successful exit from his cell.\n\nNakkaş Başakşehir Highway\nMoreover, it was officially announced that the photo that CHP Chairman Özel always mentioned, which came to the agenda on this occasion, was an image of the Başakşehir Nakkaş highway project undertaken by the Rönesans group.  This project was announced years ago by members of the government as “the foundation of Kanal Istanbul is being laid”, and when it was understood that it was not true, it was corrected to say “its connection”.\n\nNakkaş-Başakşehir was originally defined as a section of the Northern Marmara Highway.  Uraloğlu himself had said that the most important structure in this area is the Sazlıdere Bridge, around which tens of thousands of houses are now built.  According to the news reported by AA two years ago, Minister Uraloğlu said the following:\n\n"The Sazlıdere Bridge is also the first bridge built within the scope of the Kanal İstanbul, one of the most important investments of our country. The bridge was designed to have 4 departures, 4 arrivals, a total of 8 lanes and a deck width of 46 meters. Our bridge, which has a 440-meter central span and 210-meter side span, has two pylons in a diamond geometry with a height of 196 meters. There are 136 inclined suspension ropes and 272 anchors to which they will be anchored."\n\nGlobal financing\nmay have been designed as if the Nakkaş-Başakşehir highway would be built whether or not Kanal Istanbul was built in Nakkaş-Başakşehir.  However, this highway aims to open a new transportation corridor to Istanbul Airport and facilitate transportation to Başakşehir Çam and Sakura City Hospital and Atatürk Olympic Stadium.    The\n\nimportance of this project for the AKP government also stems from its financing profile.  Samsung is actively involved in the construction of the Nakkaş-Başakşehir highway as it will include innovative technologies.\n\nOn the other hand, global financing institutions such as EBRD and Deutsche Bank are also participants in project financing.\n\nWhat need, what need?\nMinister of Transport and Infrastructure Uraloğlu also stated that the issue of when the Istanbul Canal would be built was consulted and that ultimately a project worth 15-20 billion dollars should be built with the right financing opportunities.\n\nMinister Uraloğlu, who said, “We do not feel the need for a referendum at the moment,” said that citizens’ opinions within the scope of the EIA report were listened to and “incorporated” into the project.  First of all, 6 years have passed since the mentioned EIA report.  This is a very long time.\n\nOn the other hand, it is understandable that the government does not see the need for a referendum on Canal Istanbul.  This is a situation where, beyond the need, there is no tolerance, no margin, for the outcome of “no”.  Otherwise, we all know how close President Erdoğan is to the referendum as a political figure.  Unless there is systematic manipulation, the probability of a possible referendum on the Istanbul Canal being voted yes, despite all the media outlets, is extremely low.  We are talking about an excavation that will take at least four years, an increase in water demand due to the possibility of the Sazlıdere Dam becoming inactive, the mixing of the Marmara Sea and the Black Sea waters, the risk of the Marmara Sea becoming a dead sea, and a project that will further reduce the forests of Istanbul, which have already decreased by tens of thousands of acres.\n\nWhen the Istanbul Canal was first discussed, it was said that it would provide navigation safety because it would take some of the ship traffic in the Bosphorus.  We haven\'t heard any explanation about this yet.    Could you\n\nplease explain to the public why Turkey really needs an artificial waterway that will require financing of 15-20 billion dollars and that will destroy a city with explosions, excavations, pollution, salinity and earthquake risks?  Who needs Canal Istanbul, why, what kind of need do we have?'}]