Kanal Istanbul: Pipedream or Politics ?
This paper examines Kanal Istanbul, a plan proposed by recently re-elected Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to bypass the Bosphorus Strait by creating a canal west of Istabul.
Istanbul has a history of grandeur. From the Byzantines to the Ottomans, the city of Istanbul has been designed as, in the words used by Emperor Napoleon, the capital of the world. There was a sense of grandeur, too, when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, announced the construction of a canal to a bypass the Bosphorus Straits, the maritime highway that bisects the City of Istanbul and brings ships from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea and vice versa. Named Kanal Istanbul, Erdogan proposed the project during his re-election campaign less than two months before the general election as a way to relieve stress from Turkey’s prized city and solve some of the nation's most pressing issues.
Available in:
Regions and themes
ISBN / ISSN
Share
Download the full analysis
This page contains only a summary of our work. If you would like to have access to all the information from our research on the subject, you can download the full version in PDF format.
Kanal Istanbul: Pipedream or Politics ?
Author(s)
Related centers and programs
Discover our other research centers and programs
Center for Energy & Climate
Ifri's Energy and Climate Center carries out activities and research on the geopolitical and geoeconomic issues of energy transitions such as energy security, competitiveness, control of value chains, and acceptability. Specialized in the study of European energy/climate policies as well as energy markets in Europe and around the world, its work also focuses on the energy and climate strategies of major powers such as the United States, China or India. It offers recognized expertise, enriched by international collaborations and events, particularly in Paris and Brussels.
Find out more
Discover all our analyses
Brazil One Year Away from the October 2026 General Elections
Brazil’s general elections will be held on October 4, 2026, to elect the president, vice-president, members of the National Congress, governors, deputy governors and state legislative assemblies. For the presidential and gubernatorial elections, a second round will be held on October 25 if no candidate obtains a majority of the votes in the first round.
COP30: An Inflection Point for Climate Action and Governance
The 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30), opening in Belém, Brazil, on November 10th 2025, convenes at a perilous moment.
The Strategic Dimension of Skills in the Clean Industrial Deal
In the competitiveness and energy transition battles, the European Union (EU) must master a determinant factor: skills.
The Energy Transition Faces Geopolitical Challenges. How Can Ideological Divides Be Overcome?
President Trump’s positions and policies, combined with record coal consumption and booming global electricity demand, geo-economic confrontation, and widespread concerns about energy security, are changing the game when it comes to understanding realistic decarbonization trajectories. The war in Europe is intensifying competition between defense and transition budgets. This is also the case elsewhere in the world.