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The impact of a proposed new canal through western Istanbul on a key shipping treaty was up for debate Thursday, with Turkish diplomatic officials rushing to defend the plan a day after the prime minister announced it. In announcing the project Wednesday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the new canal would relieve dangerous tanker traffic on the overcrowded Bosphorus Strait by creating a new shipping route between the Marmara Sea and the Black Sea. Read More
