ISTANBUL: In Sazlibosna village, along the planned route of the vast Canal Istanbul project, 68-year-old Yasar Demirkaya fidgets with worn prayer beads as he sips tea at a cafe, uncertain about the future.
Demirkaya, who sells fruit and vegetables at a local market, fears the controversial government-backed project will threaten his small plot of land, erasing the only life he’s ever known.
“I inherited a 5,000-square-meter plot from my grandparents,” he told AFP. “It could be taken from us.
“I’m worried, everyone is. Nobody knows what to do,” he added.
Although Sazlibosna is currently off-limits for development, that could change.
The project was first announced in 2011 by then-premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is now president.
Its aim is to ease congestion on the Bosphorus Strait by carving a new waterway between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara.
But the canal’s 45-kilometer (28-mile) route also includes plans for sprawling commercial and residential zones: the entire project will cover 13,365 hectares (133,640,000 square meters).
Opponents warn it could destroy nature reserves and farmland, deplete water resources and destabilize the region’s fragile ecosystem.
-’Can’t sleep for the bulldozers’-
Although a ground-breaking ceremony was held in 2021, work has not started on the canal itself.
Property construction along the route has surged however, especially in the last six months.
Near Salizdere reservoir, AFP journalists saw tower blocks under construction by the state-run housing agency TOKI.
Istanbul’s jailed mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a vocal critic of the canal, has accused the government of accelerating construction after his March arrest following a corruption probe widely seen as politically motivated.
“Taking advantage of my absence, they began building 24,000 houses around Sazlidere dam, one of the city’s most important water resources on the European side, for the ‘Canal Istanbul’ project, which is all about profit and plunder,” said Imamoglu, a leading figure in the main opposition CHP.
Some villagers told AFP they had seen increased building activity since his arrest.
“We can’t even sleep because of the noise of bulldozers,” a woman called Muzaffer, 67, told AFP in a nearby village, without giving her surname.
“Our animals are in stables because there are no pastures left, they’ve all been turned into TOKI housing,” she said while selling buffalo milk to a customer.
“There are buildings everywhere. Where are we supposed to let our animals roam?“
After Imamoglu’s arrest, many of the project’s other opponents were detained, including Istanbul’s urban planning department chief Bugra Gokce, a vocal critic of the waterway.
Prosecutors ordered the arrest of another 53 officials in April — a move the CHP linked to the municipality’s opposition to the canal.
Many living along the canal route declined to speak on camera, fearing repercussions.
- ‘Land grab in full swing’ -
Pelin Pinar Giritlioglu, a professor at Istanbul University, said while the waterway itself had seen almost no progress, the surrounding real estate developments were advancing rapidly.
“There’s only one bridge foundation in place across the waterway... and funding has yet to be secured,” she told AFP.
“European banks won’t finance projects with major ecological impacts, and no alternatives have been found,” she added.
For her, Canal Istanbul was less about infrastructure and more of a real estate project.
“The canal development has stalled, but the land grab is in full swing,” she said.
In April, Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu insisted the project had not been shelved and would proceed “at the right time with the right financing.”
In Sazlibosna, where property agencies are multiplying as the development accelerates, real estate agent Ibrahim Emirdogan said the project had energised the market.
“We can’t say if the project will go ahead — it’s a government plan. But the market? Yes, there’s movement,” he said.
Despite their fears, some villagers are hoping the project will never materialize.
“I don’t really believe Canal Istanbul will happen. (If it does) our village will lose its peace and quiet,” said the vegetable seller Demirkaya.
