The louder opposing voices grow, the more determined the president becomes to go ahead with his ‘grand fantasy project’
There isn’t usually a lot going on at the Sazlıdere dam north-west of Istanbul, one of several reservoirs providing the megacity with fresh water. Yet this week the calm expanse of forest, farms and marshland was at the centre of the latest battle of narratives in Turkish politics.
On Saturday, President Recep Tayip Erdoğan is due to attend a ceremony here for an element of the biggest and boldest of the construction megaprojects that have come to define his two decades in office: his “crazy” Istanbul canal.
