Canal İstanbul: What if the opposition takes over before it's completed?
Opposition tries to dissuade potential financiers of Canal İstanbul • Turkey is officially out of İstanbul Convention • Erdoğan makes false claims on Covid vaccination • Covid reopening with "silence after midnight"
Erdoğan speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Canal İstanbul bridge on June 26 (Photo: AA)
Here is bianet's weekly summary of important events concerning politics, the coronavirus pandemic, environmental issues and human rights in Turkey:
The Canal İstanbul financing debate
The construction work for Canal İstanbul started with the groundbreaking of a bridge over the planned canal route on June 26, a decade after Erdoğan announced it as "my crazy project."
Meanwhile, opposition parties have been trying to dissuade potential financiers of the project, threatening to cancel all payments once they assume power.
"They'll get this money from you by force," the president said during the groundbreaking ceremony, citing international arbitration rules. In response, opposition leaders said Erdoğan's remarks showed he was aware that he wouldn't win the next election.
The canal is planned to be completed in six years and recent polls for the 2023 elections show Erdoğan and his party do not have a comfortable lead over their rivals as they had in 2018.
Moreover, two possible opposition candidates, İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş, have a clear advantage over Erdoğan if the presidential election goes to the second round, according to multiple pollsters.
The planned route of the canal linking the Black Sea in the north and the Sea of Marmara in the south. The length of the planned canal is about 45 kilometers with a minimum width of 275 meters at the bottom and 21 meters of depth. The Bosphorus strait, the natural waterway on the same route, is about 30 kilometers long and have width between 700 and 3,500 meters. Its depth is about 110 meters. (Map: AA)
Erdoğan continued the argument at his party's parliamentary group meeting on Wednesday, saying, "They are throwing threats at Deutsche Bank ... They know nothing about what a state is, how a state is governed."
Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu responded to Erdoğan on Twitter, saying, "I say the same thing to everyone who has an eye on my people's money and nature, they won't be able to get money from Turkey's treasury! Then let me say the same thing to @DeutscheBank as well..."
However, the bank had never been approached by the government regarding the project, according to a Euronews Turkish report quoting an anonymous Deutsche Bank official.
İYİ (Good) Party leader Meral Akşener, an ally of the CHP, said they will consider the Canal İstanbul debt as "odious debt," or illegitimate debt, and won't pay it.
"If the money for Canal İstanbul will be taken by force, sorry but prepare yourself, Erdoğan, that money is going to be gotten from you," she told her party's parliamentary group on June 30.
Some of the largest banks in Turkey are reportedly reluctant to finance the project due to investment and environmental risks. The estimated cost of the project is 15 billion US dollars (~130 billion Turkish lira).
Such an amount of money shouldn't be channeled into this project as the country is already in the middle of an economic crisis, according to the opposition.
Critics view the canal as a large "rent-seeking" project to enrich business groups close to the government by guaranteed payments for the canal construction and the "new city" planned to be built around it.
As for the canal's possible environmental impact, it's said that the canal would imperil the water resources of the city of 15.4 million people, damage marine life and destroy agricultural and forest areas in the city's north.
The government, on the other hand, says the planned new city with a "horizontal architecture" will relax the metropolis and the canal will reduce the marine traffic in the Bosphorus strait.
Women protesting in Taksim, İstanbul on July 1. (Photo: Evrim Kepenek/bianet)
On July 1, Turkey officially quit the İstanbul Convention, a Council of Europe treaty on combating violence against women, as stipulated by a presidential decree issued on March 20.
Having protested the president's move since then, women across Turkey took to the streets once again on July 1. In İstanbul, police used rubber bullets and tear gas against hundreds of women who gathered in Taksim, chanting slogans, "We won't give up, we won't obey."
Earlier, the Council of State refused to annul the presidential decision to pull Turkey out of the convention by a vote of three to two. Several political parties, women's rights groups, NGOs and individuals had applied to the council against the decree.
On the day the convention ceased to be in force, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced a new action plan on violence against women, saying that "Our struggle against violence against women didn't start with the İstanbul Convention and will not end with it."
The convention was negotiated in İstanbul in 2011 and was first ratified by Turkey in March 2012. All four political parties represented at the parliament at the time had supported the treaty.
Over the past couple of years, pro-government NGOs and opinion leaders have been pressing the government to ditch the treaty because of its emphasis on LGBTI+ rights and "harm to the family values."
Explaining Erdoğan's decision, the Presidency Communications Directorate had said even though the convention was originally intended to promote women's rights, it was "hijacked by a group attempting to normalize homosexuality."
Women's rights advocates say that the convention has never been effectively implemented since its ratification but its annulment will encourage male violence and leave women even more vulnerable. International organizations also voice similar concerns.
Erdoğan says European countries charge 100 Euro for Covid vaccination
Struggled with a vaccine shortage for months, Turkey has been able to speed up inoculation after securing a deal with Germany's BioNTech in late May.
More than 35 million out of the 61 million adults in the country have received at least one jab so far with 15.6 million people fully vaccinated, according to the Ministry of Health. The daily number of vaccinations in the country was around one million over the past weeks.
However, this wasn't apparently enough for the president as he twice made false claims about vaccination in Europe to brag about Turkey's recent success.
On June 25, he claimed the most developed countries in Europe charge fees for Covid vaccination that Turkey offers for free. "In England, there is a fee of about 100 pounds," he said and repeated his claims on July 2.
There is no public information about any European country charging fees for Covid vaccination.
Covid reopening with silence after midnight
Turkey lifted most coronavirus restrictions at the start of the month, including weeknight and Sunday lockdowns, with a new ban coming into effect: an outdoor music ban after midnight.
"We're extending the restriction regarding music to 24.00. Excuse me but nobody has the right to disturb anyone at night," Erdoğan had explained the reason for the ban on June 21.
The move outraged musicians and people on social media as hundreds of thousands of tweets were posted under the hashtag "We don't excuse."
As the ban came into effect, a performance hall introduced a "silent disco mode" with people putting on earphones after midnight.
Some social media users criticized the IF Performance Hall for "legitimizing the ban." One user wrote: "We'll end the night at IF with fruit juices when alcohol is banned, then."
The government has been accused of taking advantage of Covid restrictions to interfere with people's lifestyles. In May, it imposed an alcohol sale ban during a 17-day curfew and bars and taverns remained closed for nearly one and a half years.
Demanding an election for the rector, academics and students of Boğaziçi have been protesting against Erdoğan's appointment since then.
Hundreds of students have been detained and subjected to police violence during the protests.
Under the administration of Bulu, who doesn't meet the university's criteria for a professorship, the school's LGBTI+ club has been shut down and carrying rainbow flags on the campus has been effectively banned.
Also, Erdoğan signed overnight decrees to establish a faculty of law and a faculty of communication, apparently in an attempt to employ pro-government academics at the university.
"The Pride March ended and we were about to go home. We were standing right across the park in Tophane, waiting for our friends. First, a couple of people came and started to stare at us. Then, they increased in number. They started to attack us verbally and physically. We thought we were all going to die"
While the Health Ministry's coronavirus vaccination campaign is moving apace, the desired vaccination rates have not yet been reached in some cities, especially in the Kurdish-majority ones
Police chasing protesters following a demonstration at Saraçhane Square. (Ali Dinç/bianet)
A woman detained during protests in İstanbul following the arrest of Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu has alleged that she was subjected to physical abuse and sexual harassment by police officers.
The woman, who was taken into custody on the night of Mar 22 and later placed under house arrest, described her experience in her police testimony.
“I didn’t damage any public property or resist the police," she wrote. "However, I was subjected to a very harsh intervention. I was pulled by my hair and dragged to the ground. While I was being taken away to be handcuffed, a police officer who said ‘I won't beat you’ took me to the back of the ambulance and I was harassed there. At that moment I wet myself out of fear. The clothes I was wearing were still soaked in urine. The woman officer said 'enough'. But the male policeman who had harassed me before continued to act as if he was in charge."
She further described the violence she endured while in custody. "The male police officer pressed my head with his foot. The doctor's report showed edema and swelling on my left side. While I was being taken to the detention vehicle, the female police officer insulted me by calling me ‘dirty’. I was kept in handcuffs for hours, my hands swollen and bruised."
'Death threats'
When she attempted to report the harassment, she said she received a sarcastic response from officers. “I told a blonde female officer that I had been harassed. She laughed and told me sarcastically, ‘Oh, you were harassed?’
"During a body search, they tied ropes around my wrists and neck to remove the plastic handcuffs. When I said it violated my rights, no one cared.”
The woman said that she was subjected to constant pressure and threats by four women police officers during her detention, and that one of the most severe threats came one of those officers: "They frightened me, put me under constant pressure. A black-haired policewoman told me, 'If you stay in our hands, we will kill you.' The other officers were joking and laughing."
Saying that the dose of violence and torture increased gradually in detention, the woman alleged that they forced her to give a statement and at one point she fainted because she could not bear the pain.
İstanbul Bar following the case
The İstanbul Bar Association’s Women’s Rights Center and lawyers affiliated with the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), including attorneys Ekim Yolcu, Büşra Çakır, and Erdener Doğan Işık, are following the case. The legal team has appealed the court's decision to place her under house arrest.
Protests erupted across Turkey following the Mar 19 detention of İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, a key opposition figure from the Republican People’s Party (CHP). He was formally arrested on corruption-related and suspended from office on Mar 23.
Protests continued nationwide, with Saraçhane Square in front of the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality building being center of the demonstrations.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya stated that between Mar 19 and Mar 27, a total of 1,879 people were taken into custody during the protests. Of those, 260 were formally arrested, 468 were placed under judicial supervision, and 489 were released. Legal proceedings for the remaining 662 individuals are ongoing. (EMK/VK)
bianet kadın ve LGBTİ+ haberleri editörü (Ekim 2018- Şubat 2025). bianet stajyerlerinden (2000-2001). Cumhuriyet, BirGün, DİHA, Jinha, Jin News, İMC TV için muhabirlik yaptı. Rize'de...
bianet kadın ve LGBTİ+ haberleri editörü (Ekim 2018- Şubat 2025). bianet stajyerlerinden (2000-2001). Cumhuriyet, BirGün, DİHA, Jinha, Jin News, İMC TV için muhabirlik yaptı. Rize'de yerel gazetelerde çalıştı. Sivil Sayfalar, Yeşil Gazete, Journo ve sektör dergileri için yazılar yazdı, haberleri yayınlandı. Hemşin kültür dergisi GOR’un kurucu yazarlarından. Yeşilden Maviye Karadenizden Kadın Portreleri, Sırtında Sepeti, Medya ve Yalanlar isimli kitaplara katkı sundu. Musa Anter Gazetecilik (2011) ve Türkiye Psikiyatri Derneği (2024) en iyi haber ödülü sahibi. Türkiye Gazeteciler Sendikası Kadın ve LGBTİ+ Komisyonu kurucularından. Sendikanın İstanbul Şubesi yöneticilerinden (2023-2027). İstanbul Üniversitesi Avrupa Birliği ve Bilgi Üniversitesi Uluslararası İlişkiler bölümlerinden mezun. Toplumsal cinsiyet odaklı habercilik ve cinsiyet temelli şiddet haberciliği alanında atölyeler düzenliyor. Şubat 2025'den bu yana kadın haberleri editörü olarak çalışıyor.
LGBTI+ activist İris Mozalar was among the encircled group after the demonstration.
More than 100 women and LGBTI+ activists were detained following the Feminist Night March in Beyoğlu İstanbul on Mar 8.
After the demonstration ended in Cihangir neighborhood, police encircled a group of activists and eventually detained 112 of them. During the confrontation, officers cited the chanting of "banned slogans" as the reason for their action.
Feminist activist Feride Eralp criticized the police response, saying, “There are probably 100 to 200 of us here. Out of a protest attended by thousands, you have somehow managed to trap this small group. This is disgraceful. What you are doing here is completely arbitrary.”
She called on the police to allow the crowd to disperse peacefully. “Do not use violence against women on Mar 8 Women’s Day. If you try to detain us here, you will have to use force on all of us—and you know that. Let this day end without violence. Your duty is to protect women from violence, not to inflict it. These women marched today for their rights and freedoms, for an end to male violence. Let us go.”
Police deployed vehicles to the scene and eventually detained all the encircled demonstrators.
LGBTI+ activist released after arrest request
Among those detained was LGBTI+ activist İris Mozalar, who was later referred to İstanbul’s 3rd Penal Judgeship of Peace with a request for arrest on charges of “insulting the president” and violating the Law No. 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations.
Mozalar spent the night in police custody before being transferred to Çağlayan Courthouse.
According to Mozalar’s lawyer, Gizem Karaköçek, prosecutors requested the arrest without even taking a statement from Mozalar.
The case file did not provide detailed reasoning for the arrest request, but one of the slogans chanted during the march—“Jump, jump, those who don’t jump are Tayyip”—was listed as evidence for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
During police questioning, Mozalar was also asked about slogans including “Jin, jiyan, azadî” (Woman, life, freedom), “Resistance against all odds, freedom against all odds,” and “If women were free, the world would shake.”
Mozalar was ultimately released under judicial control, with an international travel ban. (TY/VK)
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