The mayor of Istanbul criticizes the Erdogan water canal: the city cannot manage more residents

Ekrem Imamoglu, mayor of Istanbul, criticized the increase in population that the “Istanbul Water Canal” project will lead to an increase and pledged to prevent it, considering that the city, which is one of the largest Turkish cities, “has not the ability to withstand “this anticipated population increase.

According to statements by the mayor of Istanbul, who belongs to the People’s Republican Party, the main opposition party in Turkey, the Istanbul water canal project, adopted by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will add two million people to the current population number of around 16 million.

Imamoglu’s advisory office highlighted the Istanbul mayor’s total rejection of the huge canal project due to environmental concerns and against the backdrop of its high financial cost.

I reject the project for logical and well-known reasons

Three advisers to the mayor of Istanbul told Al Arabiya.net that “Imamoglu announces in every occasion his rejection of this project for logical and well-known reasons, but the AKP does not take such criticism into account “.

On Saturday, the opposition mayor of Istanbul pledged to prevent the massive population increase in the huge city in which he directs the main municipality, which should be joined by the Istanbul Canal project in course.

Ekrem Imamoglu said during a meeting with the municipal press in Istanbul that the city of about 16 million people could not “bear” another two million people.

The Justice and Development Party will leave

The mayor added that the political age of the Justice and Development Party in power would not have been enough to implement this project.

He also said his main opposition party “rejects all government decisions relating to this water channel.”

The Istanbul Canal is a project by via navigable along 45 kilometers which should connect the Black Sea with the Sea of ​​Marmara. But it is often criticized by opposition parties, some civil society actors and environmental organizations.

However, in June, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a staunch supporter of the canal, launched a $ 15 billion project aimed at relieving pressure on the crowded Bosphorus Strait.

Imamoglu had revealed in a previous interview with “Al Arabiya.net”that the canal would drain the water resources of Istanbul’s residents and destroy the irreparable nature of the province and render it uninhabitable, concerns that the government completely ignores.

Erdogan had taken the first concrete step towards the realization of the Istanbul Canal project, placing on June 26 the first stone of the Sazilidere Bridge, one of the six bridges that will cross the canal.

The establishment of this canal would also lead to a Turkish-Russian dispute if Ankara evades the implementation of the Montreux Maritime Convention, which regulates the traffic of ships in the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Strait.

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