Germany’s Deutsche Bank has said that it has yet to receive a request from Turkey for financing the controversial Kanal Istanbul waterway project, Euronews Turkish reported on Saturday, contradicting remarks on the matter by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Officials from the bank told the outlet on July 1 that no discussions were held with Ankara regarding the financing of the$15 billion artificial waterway project, set to connect the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and thus the Aegean to and the Mediterranean.
The Turkish president on Wednesday had accused the leader of the main opposition party, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, of “threatening” the German lender as he blasted the opposition for their criticisms of the government over the project.
Erdoğan accused the opposition of hurling “threats at Deutsche Bank,’’ in an address to lawmakers from his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in parliament, Bloomberg HT reported.
Professional organisations, NGOs and Turkey’s main opposition party have been vocal critics of Kanal Istanbul, saying it poses a severe earthquake risk, will damage the megacity’s last remaining forest areas by encouraging development, and harm marine life in the Marmara Sea.
Opposition leaders, including Kılıçdaroğlu, have gone on record to tell potential investors that they would not receive reimbursement from the Turkish Treasury for the project should their parties come to power.
As of June 30, Deutsche Bank had received no request from Turkey for the project that kicked off last week, Euronews Turkish said.
Source: Ahval
