That 'Kanal Istanbul' they talk about... A deeper look at the project's background

The Kanal Istanbul project remains on the agenda not only due to its economic and environmental impacts but also because of the debates it creates regarding security and international diplomacy.

National Center Secretary General Haluk Dural, in an article he penned in detail, stated that the project would pose serious threats to Turkey's defense strategy and put the future of the Montreux Convention at risk.

According to Dural, the project would weaken defense lines in the Thrace region and leave Turkey's northern borders vulnerable to military interventions by Greece and the USA.

Here is the full text of the article written by Haluk Dural regarding the background of the 'Kanal Istanbul' project:

Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was removed from his post as Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, said, “just the other day, they started the construction of 24 thousand residences around the Sazlıdere Dam, one of the most important water sources on the European side, within the framework of the Kanal Istanbul project."

Tenders for the 24 thousand-residence project to be built in the Sazlıdere basin have been completed. The total cost of the 28 separate tenders held by TOKİ between March 17 and April 18 reached 54 billion 881 million liras. Some of the tenders were won by companies managed by AKP-affiliated figures.

On February 27, a presentation on Kanal Istanbul was made to Erdoğan. In the presentation conducted by Yalçın Eyigün, General Manager of Infrastructure Investments at the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, the construction cost of the Kanal Istanbul project, environmental planning, and who would carry out the construction were discussed. Accordingly, the construction cost of the Kanal Istanbul project, which has a calculated construction period of 5 years, is expected to be 15 billion dollars (570 billion liras). The Kanal Istanbul project will be carried out through 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 liras). Two new settlements for 100 thousand and 65 thousand people 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 with the excavation waste from Kanal Istanbul, a new port will also be built. The Ministry will name the region Istanbul Valley.

THE REAL GOAL OF THE KANAL ISTANBUL PROJECT

The Kanal Istanbul project is being presented and debated in the public eye, quite deliberately, as a rent-seeking housing project. The real purpose of the project, which is covered up and hidden from the public through these debates, is twofold:

1- To leave the remaining lands of our Thrace border defenseless with the canal, making it open to an attack by Greece,

2- To open the cancellation of the Montreux Convention to international debate.

1- The first defense line of the Turkish Army in Thrace is the Edirne-Babaeski-Tekirdağ line. However, the main defense line is the line in Çatalca, which was heavily fortified during World War II against the possibility of the German Armies that occupied Bulgaria crossing the border, and is known as the Çakmak Line. Today, the 1st Army's heaviest armored units are stationed around this line.

If this canal is opened on the Küçükçekmece-Sazlıdere-Durusu route as announced, the connection between the 1st Army's main and reserve units and our military units in Thrace will be severed.

In the event of a hot conflict between Turkey and Greece, Bulgaria, an ally of the USA in NATO, and the approximately 15 thousand US soldiers stationed in US bases in Alexandroupoli and Bulgaria will also participate and occupy Thrace.

In Article 2 of the Treaty of Peace of Lausanne dated July 24, 1923, our borders with Greece were drawn in accordance with the borders determined by the Mudanya Armistice dated October 11, 1922, and the Karaağaç district was included within the borders of Turkey. In the 97 years that have passed since Lausanne, there has been no change in Greece's ambitions over Eastern Thrace and Western Anatolia.

During a war, the first target of enemy air forces will be the 6 bridges to be built over the canal that connect Istanbul and Thrace. If the bridges are destroyed, it will not be possible to supply our fighting units in Thrace via the canal, nor will the Tekirdağ and Ereğli ports on the Marmara Sea coast be sufficient for the reinforcement or withdrawal of the units. The inevitable result of this is to abandon the homeland territory in Thrace to the enemy.

2- Since America is not a littoral state to the Black Sea, it cannot keep warships in the Black Sea permanently like all other states. In peacetime, provided that they give prior notification to Turkey through diplomatic channels, US warships can enter the Black Sea for a period of 21 days on the condition that they enter through the Dardanelles Strait within 5 days (Article: 18/2), and they are obliged to leave Turkish territorial waters through the Dardanelles Strait at the end of the period. Furthermore, like all non-littoral states, the USA can send a maximum of 9 ships to the Black Sea at one time, with a total tonnage not exceeding 15 thousand tons (Article: 14). With Annex II of the Treaty, additional limitations have been imposed on the tonnage and caliber of guns of warships of non-littoral states.

The main reason America wants to enter the Black Sea is to support the pro-Western government in Ukraine and to encircle Russia from the south. If the USA violates Montreux, it wants to deploy a Missile Cruiser within the scope of the European Missile Shield project in Romania or in Odessa or another suitable port in Ukraine, thus wanting to strike Russia's nuclear-tipped Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles that could be sent towards the USA while they are still over Russia.

For these reasons, the USA wants the cancellation of the Montreux Convention.

Conclusion:

The Kanal Istanbul project will not actually be built. The target is to make Thrace open to enemy attack and the Montreux Treaty.

- Thrace will be made open to Greek attack,

And the USA;

- Will suppress potential targets in Russia,

- Will strongly protect the Deveselu base in Romania,

- Will provide direct military support to Georgia, which is on the agenda for NATO accession,

- Will cut off the connection between Turkey and Russia,

- Will encircle Turkey from the north.

News Source: 12punto