[2] Indeed, in January 2018, the Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım announced that the Istanbul Canal would not be subject to the Montreux Convention.

The government is expecting to generate US$8 billion in revenue per year from the Istanbul Canal, in part from a service fee for transits.

[5] Other criticisms include the need to direct resources for focusing on earthquake readiness and addressing economic issues,[6][7] and potential negative environmental impacts.

[10] In 1991, Nusret Avcı, head of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Environment Commission, proposed that a canal 23 km (14 mi) long be constructed between Silivri and Karacaköy.

[14] The stated purpose of the project is to reduce the large marine traffic through the Bosporus and minimise the risks and dangers associated particularly with tankers.

[15] About 41,000 vessels of all sizes pass yearly through the Istanbul Strait, among them 8,000 tankers carrying 145 million tons of crude oil.

The canal will further help prevent the pollution caused by cargo vessels passing through or mooring in the Sea of Marmara before the southern entrance of the Bosporus.

[26] In January 2020, the Environment and Urbanization Ministry approved the final version of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report of the Istanbul Canal project.

[29][30] The central government has put forward a build-operate-transfer model as its main preference, but will use funds from the national budget if needed.

[35] The project has been criticized for destroying agricultural and forest land and a walking trail, and potentially contaminating groundwater with salt and increasing flooding.

[36] Other environmental criticism includes potential changes to the salinity of Marmara Sea, leading to Istanbul smelling of hydrogen sulfide.

[41] Observers said the plan to charge transit fees to oil and gas tankers is unrealistic, as long as free passage is guaranteed through the Bosporous.

Along with members of the royal family of Qatar, Berat Albayrak, the former Turkish Minister of Finance and son-in-law of President Erdoğan, purchased property along the route, meaning he would personally benefit financially from the resulting real-estate development.

[44] In April 2021, ten retired Turkish navy admirals were arrested over public criticism of the Istanbul Canal project.

The arrests followed a day after a group of 104 senior former navy officials signed an open letter warning that the proposed canal could, by invalidating the Montreux Convention, harm Turkish security.

[46] Should the world move decisively away from fossil fuels in the coming decades, the problem of traffic congestion in the Bosporus Strait will dissipate, removing one of the justifications for the canal.