The Istanbul Canal project was canceled by a court decision

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu announced this on his social networks. "The 11th Court satisfied the objections of the Istanbul Municipality, overturned the zoning changes made by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change and justified the objections to the master plan of the project, which will destroy nature and water resources," he wrote.

The controversial engineering project, which is called Erdogan's "dream," was actually supposed to become a stand-in for the Bosphorus, connect the Black and Marmara Seas, become a more comfortable analogue of the now overloaded strait and bring additional income to the country for faster passage of ships through the new channel. It was assumed that the length of the canal would be 45 kilometers, and the cost of its construction was estimated from up to $ 25 billion.

However, the world community, environmentalists and 80% of Istanbul residents strongly opposed the implementation of this project. The opposition Istanbul municipality has filed a lawsuit against the canal and the government's proposed zoning plan, claiming that it will cause irreparable damage to agricultural land, forests and water basins, as well as worsen traffic congestion. As a result, the Turkish court granted the opposition's complaint against the multibillion-dollar canal construction project, which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insists on building.

The Ministry may appeal the court's decision.