Canal Istanbul and waterways in the world: Throughout history, human beings have benefited from sea transportation in freight and passenger transportation. From primitive rafts to modern technological ships, maritime transport has gone through various stages. Geographical discoveries, one of the turning points in terms of world trade and history, the industrial revolution and the invention of steam ships are milestones in terms of the importance of maritime transport.
Throughout the history of the world, maritime communities have developed and increased their welfare. Our country is among these communities due to its geopolitical location and its three sides being surrounded by seas.
The world maritime trade volume, which was 1950 million tons in 500, increased 2013 times in 18 and reached 9 billion tons. According to Shipping Statistics and Market Review (ISL) data, 75 percent of world trade is by sea, 16 percent by rail and road, 9 percent by pipeline and 0,3 percent by air.
Maritime has an important place in world trade, politics and brief history. Shipping, which plays a decisive role in shaping the world geography as a sector, is also among the areas where we have competitive advantage for our country.
It is clear that the strategic importance of the maritime sector should be transformed into a platform where scientists will publish their original research and share their knowledge.
The maritime sector, which is one of the key sectors of our country's economy, has made significant progress in recent years with the leadership of institutions providing training for different titles and competencies. Our educational institutions have increased in number, have strengthened their staff, have given many graduates for master's and doctoral degrees and contributed to the training of young scientists.
In short, many important scientific studies have been carried out and continue to be carried out in different fields of maritime such as maritime economy, maritime management and management, maritime law, maritime history.
With the Turkish maritime vision, 2023 is highly competitive with international competitiveness, integrated with the global network and aimed to support the national economy. With a structure that has an increasing share in employment, it is aimed to ensure timely, safe and uninterrupted transportation and sustainability of passengers and cargoes.
growing in stability, with competitiveness on a global scale by sharing more equitably, information has become the society, the world has become a natural harbor of the maritime zone of stability and confidence factor is essential, giving importance to the maritime sector for Turkey. Maritime trade and maritime transportation are more advantageous compared to other transportation methods in terms of both the amount of freight it carries at one time and the cost.
With the advancement of technology, trip times have been shortened and at the same time security of life and property at sea has increased. Increasing production level in the world scale, supplying inputs for production and delivering the resulting product to the consumer reveal the importance of maritime transport. The foreign trade volume of our country, which increases in parallel with the world trade volume, puts our maritime sector in an even more important place.
For all these reasons; Kanal Istanbul project is of great importance for the development of the maritime sector. The economic developments in the world and in our country and their impact on the maritime trade will be due to the construction of waterways such as Waterway. The most beautiful answer to the question of what needs to be done in order to strengthen the position of the maritime trade in our country in recent years and to change its position in the world is the “Kanal Istanbul” project.
When the map of Europe is examined, thousands of miles of waterways will stand out. Not just Europe, America, Asia, even the road is covered with water remained Turkey unfortunately too late on this issue.
Some scientists and politicians oppose many projects for the benefit of our country by citing incomprehensible reasons in parallel with the "muddle of the Janissaries". The plague of this is enormous. For this reason, I will try to explain the gravity of the work based on a famous example in the world: Wasserstrassenkreuz Magdeburg (Magdeburg Waterway) is Europe's largest water bridge. Ships can also pass over the bridge that crosses the Elbe River. You did not hear wrong, this bridge was built for the passage of ships and it can also be called "ship bridge".
What can a bridge be made for? Car, animal, freight transport or train… But this structure is a structure that will make people forget all they know about the bridge. The Magdeburg Water Bridge (Magdeburg Water Bridge), built to ensure the flow of water, or rather a river, was built in 1997 in Magdeburg, Germany, through which the Elbe river passes. The river bridge, whose construction took a total of 6 years, was put into service in 2003.
This bridge, which is an important engineering work, is designed in such a way that the Elbe River does not interfere with the Mittelland Canal on the desired route and that it can easily pass over the huge ships on top. The only weight of the bridge is the weight of the water flowing over it. So the weight of the ships passing over it is insignificant. Already the weight of the bridge with the lifting force is zero.
The Germans built this bridge and showed how much they attached importance to the maritime issue. And the Germans? We know that the British are also advanced in maritime, what about the French? They are among the very diligent and vigilant nations in this regard. Look how 300 Yirmisekiz Mehmet Çelebi, who was sent as an ambassador to Paris years ago, explained the importance of the French to maritime in his travel notes.
He is the son of Süleyman Ağa who was martyred in the Peç Expedition while he was in the janissary. He was also brought up in the Janissaries. Since he served in the twenty-eighth middle, he was called by this name throughout his life. He was sent to France as ambassador in 1720 while he was in this post. Mehmed Çelebi, who was a state official who went abroad as a permanent embassy for the first time in the Ottoman Empire, stayed in Paris for eleven months. On his return, he presented what he saw during his travel to the sultan in a book. Mehmed Efendi's Sefâretnâme, in which he describes the embassy of France to which he was sent to "" the embassy of France for the consent of those who are practiced by giving the vows-i umran and his education properly "is one of the most important works written in this field in terms of history and literature.
In his book, the journey between Istanbul and Paris, his arrival to Paris via Bordeaux is described.
In 1720 we learn from this book that there is a waterway in southern France. Yirmisekiz Mehmet Çelebi, who came to Bordeaux by using this waterway, expressed how far back we were in maritime.
XV. His acceptance by Louis, the military ceremonies he attended and the points of interest in Paris were discussed. Mehmed Çelebi was also appreciated by the scientific and technical institutions, especially the palace, and the French in general, for his dress, style, attitude, speech and training. Since France was in a demanding position for alliance at that time, it is possible to understand the care and attention shown to the ambassador.
The embassy of Yirmisekiz Mehmed Çelebi, the printing house of İbrahim Müteferrika, and the famous Sadabad Gardens of the Tulip Era, which took the Tuileries Palace in Paris as an example, led to significant reflections on the Ottoman State in the fields of horticulture in the short term. The Sefaretname was translated into French in 1757 and it was first published in 1867 in the Ottoman Empire.
Almost 3 centuries have passed since the writing of this work, we still have a side that cannot comprehend the importance of waterways. How to close this gap and reach the level of developed countries is a separate matter, but thanks to Channel Istanbul, I think we can accelerate this work a bit.
Let me tell you a little bit about what Channel Istanbul is and what kind of project it is.
The history of the alternative waterway project to the Bosphorus goes back to the Roman Empire. The Sakarya River Transport Project was mentioned for the first time in the correspondence between the governor of Bithynia Pliny, the emperor Trajan. The idea of connecting the Black Sea and Marmara with an artificial strait has come up 16 times since the 6th century.
According to the statements, Kanal Istanbul, officially known as Kanal Istanbul, will most likely be built on Küçükçekmece Lake on the European side of the city. An artificial waterway will be opened between the Black Sea and the Marmara Sea in order to relieve the ship traffic in the Bosphorus, which is currently an alternative passage between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.
At the point where the canal meets the Marmara Sea, one of the two new cities that are planned to be established by 2023 will be established. The length of the channel is 40-45 km; Its width is 145-150 m at the surface, and approximately 125 m at the bottom, and the water depth is 25 m. it will be. With this channel, the Bosphorus will be completely closed to tanker traffic, and two new peninsulas and a new island will be formed in Istanbul.
453 is planned to be built on million square meters. The other areas are divided into airports with 30 million square meters, Ispartakule and Bahçeşehir with 78 million square meters, roads with 33 million square meters, zoning parcels with 108 million square meters and 167 million square meters are divided into common green areas.
The project will last two years. The excavated land will be used in the construction of a large airport and port, and will be used to fill quarries and mines. It is stated that the cost of the project may be over 10 billion dollars.
When it turns out that the project is an alternative channel to the Bosphorus, there are discussions among lawyers about the legal status of the channel. It is discussed whether the channel will create a situation contrary to the Montreux Straits Convention. With the Montreux contract, warships could only enter the Black Sea with limited tonnages, loads, weapons and for a limited time. Making the Montreux Convention scheduled for this channel due to Turkey's negative as it is clear that strengthen the hand to use its sovereign rights. It will provide great benefits to urban planning problems caused by the population density in Istanbul, especially in terms of solving traffic problems and increasing green areas. But much more important is the development of maritime culture and the value of our country strategically in taking advantage of the opportunities provided by geography.
Source : Vehbi Kara
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