Days before İmamoğlu's arrest... A presentation on the Kanal İstanbul project was made to Erdoğan! Details have emerged

The "crazy project" Kanal Istanbul, announced by President and AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 2011 as his "greatest dream," is back on the agenda with the construction of 24,000 TOKİ housing units that has begun in its vicinity…

It has been learned that a presentation was made to Erdoğan last February. Details of the presentation, which covered how many years the construction would take, what the cost would be, and who would build it and how, have emerged.

PRESENTATION MADE DAYS BEFORE THE ‘İMAMOĞLU’ OPERATION

On February 27, 2025, during a visit to the Başakşehir-Nakkaştepe Highway construction site, President Erdoğan was briefed on the construction process of the Kanal Istanbul project during a meeting that included Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu and Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Murat Kurum.

According to a report by Nefes newspaper, the presentation, delivered by Yalçın Eyigün, General Manager of Infrastructure Investments at the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, covered the construction cost of the Kanal Istanbul project, environmental planning, and details on who would carry out the construction and how.

DETAILS HAVE EMERGED

Accordingly, the construction period for the Kanal Istanbul project is calculated at 5 years, and the construction cost is expected to be 15 billion dollars (570 billion lira).

The Kanal Istanbul project will be carried out through a Public-Private Partnership and will be realized entirely with private sector financing. The canal to be built will be 360 meters wide and 21 meters deep. The total cost of the 6 bridges to be built over the canal is expected to be 1.4 billion dollars (53.2 billion lira).

Two new settlements for 100,000 and 65,000 people, respectively, will be established on either side of the Kanal Istanbul route. Additionally, there will be two logistics bases, a technology base, and an exhibition area. While a new landfill area will be created on the Black Sea coast using the excavation material from Kanal Istanbul, a new port will also be built.

The Ministry has named the region, where land, rail, air, and sea routes are integrated, the Istanbul Valley.

HERE ARE THE DETAILS OF THE KANAL ISTANBUL PROJECT ACCORDING TO THE PRESENTATION

According to the information in the presentation, the Kanal Istanbul project:

Will be built in 5 years,

Is expected to cost 15 billion dollars (570 billion lira),

Will be carried out through a Public-Private Partnership and will be realized entirely with private sector financing,

The canal will be 21 meters deep and 360 meters wide,

The cost of the 6 bridges is expected to be 1.4 billion dollars (53.2 billion lira).

İMAMOĞLU HAD SAID, "THEY TOOK MY ABSENCE AS AN OPPORTUNITY"

CHP's presidential candidate and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who is currently imprisoned at the Marmara Prison in Silivri, had said, "They took my absence as an opportunity and started the construction of 24,000 housing units around the Sazlıdere Dam, one of the most important water sources on the European side, for the sake of the rent and plunder project called 'Kanal Istanbul'."

WORK CONTINUES

In the region where eyes have turned following İmamoğlu's words, dozens of construction machines are continuing work in a large area without interruption.