Sawt Falasteen - Turkey's opposition says Erdogan's canal plan behind latest arrests

The Istanbul general prosecutor's office said Saturday it had issued warrants for 53 people, 47 of whom had been detained, over a corruption probe into opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who was himself arrested last month.

Imamoglu's party, the main opposition CHP, said the arrests were to counter its efforts to block the proposed Istanbul canal project, intended to connect the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara. The project is backed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Speaking at a rally Saturday, Ozgur Celik, head of the CHP in Istanbul, accused the government of having "revived" the project just after Imamoglu's arrest.

The deputy chairman of the CHP parliamentary group, Gokhan Gunaydin, also argued that "the real reason for these arrests is the Istanbul Canal".

But the government's department for combating disinformation has denied the accusations.

"The operation follows the investigation opened on March 19 against the mayor for corruption," it said.

From his cell, Imamoglu also denounced the arrests, blaming "a handful of ambitious people... who started filling empty files with lies and slander".

- 'No coincidence' -

Imamoglu was arrested for alleged corruption on the day he was named the CHP's candidate for the 2028 presidential race. He is regarded as the most high-profile politician in opposition to Erdogan, whose AKP has ruled Turkey since 2002.

Imamoglu's detention sparked huge crowds rallying in nightly protests outside Istanbul City Hall. The demonstrations quickly spread across the country in what became Turkey's biggest wave of unrest since 2013.

Among those detained Saturday was Imamoglu's aide and brother-in-law Kadriye Kasapoglu and city hall officials, Turkish media reported.

The Bir Gun news site, which is close to the opposition, said raids were underway in the homes of those detained in Ankara, Istanbul and Tekirdag in the country's north-west.

"Today's operation is no coincidence," Celik said on X.

Istanbul's Water and Sewage Authority had ordered the demolition and shutdown of construction sites along the canal route, he said.

"The municipal employees who opposed (the project) are currently at the main police station," he added.

The project was initiated by Erdogan in 2011 when he was prime minister. The plan is to relieve congestion in the Bosphorus Strait, a 50-kilometre-long (31 miles), 150-metre-wide and 25-metre deep stretch.

Environmentalists vehemently oppose it, arguing it would encroach on natural and agricultural land and alter a reservoir that supplies some of Istanbul's water.

- Seismic risks -

Earlier this week, Ozel also told parliament that Imamoglu's arrest was linked to his pushback against the canal.

"They cannot dig the canal because Istanbul's guardian Ekrem Imamoglu opposes it. But they started building houses all around! Why? Because they sold them," he said.

Turkish authorities have launched a social housing project and recently put land adjacent to the route of the future canal up for sale.

The chief of Istanbul's Urban Planning Agency, Bugra Gokce, is among experts that have warned against the canal and housing developments.

Gokce has warned of the seismic risks due to the active fault line under the route. Only last Wednesday Istanbul was shaken by a major 6.2 magnitude earthquake followed by numerous aftershocks.

Imamoglu's arrest, which was widely denounced as a bid to leave the CHP leaderless, has also had economic implications.

Aside from an opposition call to boycott firms seen as close to the government, Istanbul's benchmark BIST 100 stock exchange has fallen by nearly 14 percent over the month.

The Turkish lira has shed almost eight percent against the dollar, reaching an all-time low despite a $50-billion injection by the central bank to limit the damage.

I.Saadi--SF-PST