Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party have some “mega projects” in mind that could affect the future of Turkey and perhaps the entire region. One of these is the “Kanal Istanbul” project.

Erdogan is planning to dig a second maritime link between the Black and Marmara Seas, similar to Panama Canal. For some time now, Erdogan and his government have been breathlessly telling the people about this project. Phenomenal land speculation along the proposed course of the canal has already started and prices are skyrocketing. According to the plans, this canal will be the second passage after the Bosporus to link the Black and Marmara Seas and ease the extremely heavy traffic on the Bosporus. Environmentalists, however, have objected to the project, which they say it will cause serious ecological complications.

Hacettepe University professor Cemal Saydam, who has been studying the Black and Marmara Seas for many years, says this canal cannot be compared to the Panama and Suez canals because of extremely sensitive balances in the Black and Marmara Seas. According to Saydam, constructing such a canal will cause an ecological disaster that will affect the entire region.

Saydam's arguments boil down to this: There is a 30 centimeter (one foot) elevation difference between the Black Sea, which is fed by rivers, and the Marmara Sea, which is fed by salty Mediterranean waters. Because of this elevation difference and the varying densities of salty and fresh waters, both seas flow toward each other through the Bosporus.