Mayor of Istanbul makes statement about Kanal Istanbul explaining why he is against it

Kanal Istanbul which is a mega project strongly favored by the President has been on the agenda of Turkey for quite a while now. The President insists it would bring additional benefits to the country whereas the mayor of Istanbul opposes the idea very strongly indeed. In reply to questions about Kanal Istanbul project IMAMOGLU, the Mayor of Istanbub shared following points with reporters.

Question: On the one hand, you are trying to keep Kanal Istanbul on the agenda. There was also a flood in Giresun. The earthquake is also on your agenda. What happened in the last week, especially regarding KANAL Istanbul?”

Imamoğlu’s reply:

“We are talking about the priorities of Istanbul and we will continue to talk about it. We will fight whatever obstacles stand in the way of this priority. Therefore, Kanal Istanbul is not the priority of Istanbul. Kanal Istanbul is the biggest devastation that Istanbul has ever seen or will ever see. There are many negative aspects; I have not yet caught a positive point. Since this project was announced, I have been interested in this issue.

In particular, I have been working with scientists one-on-one, for 1.5 years. Regardless of what area of expertise, no scientist has praised Kanal Istanbul, so far. Therefore, Istanbul does not have such an agenda. But Istanbul has an agenda called earthquake. God forbid but we are talking about an earthquake that is not certain when it will come; an earthquake that will threaten the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Istanbul. So we are continuing our struggle.

We consider ourselves obliged to fulfill our duty to raise awareness of the society about how wrong it is and by sending articles and warnings to the relevant institutions, on a legal basis. It is definitely not a political issue; it is a completely Istanbul issue. We are also against an understanding that would put Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality aside.

That is, we need to invest billions of liras there so that Kanal Istanbul can be realized. Based on findings of the ISKI only, it means a TL 23 billion investment. No one is talking to us about it. I mean, how is this going to be funded, what is it going to be? We are talking about Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality property, worth millions of lira.

In terms of Urbanism or planning, such a process cannot be operated, it cannot be. We’re talking about 350 million square feet. In order not to allow such an area to be ruined, we will continue our institutional and social struggle using science and reason at the legal level.”