Turkey to build Istanbul canal
The waterway, to be named “Canal Istanbul,” would link the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, which leads to the Aegean Sea.
It would be around 30 miles long, 80 feet deep and around 500 feet wide.
Prime Minister Recep Erdogan announced the plan during campaigning ahead of elections on June 12.
“We have today embarked on the greatest project of the century,” Erdogan said, adding that it would be a bigger undertaking than the Panama or Suez canals.
The new waterway would be located on the European side of the Bosphorus, he said, but would not disclose its exact location or the cost of the gargantuan project. It would be completed by 2023, when Turkey will be celebrating the centenary of the founding of the Turkish republic after the fall of the Ottoman Empire.
