Özet:

Canals are built for economic enhancement through transportation improvement. Canals become nods not only of enormous financial interests, but of political and security importance. Many canals, like Panama Canal and Suez Canal have been a reason for political and military confrontation. This is the reason planning process of a canal to take in consideration political and security effects in addition to economic reasons for its existence. Canals security challenges originate from their ‘choke points’ characteristics. Canals are of vital importance to the global economy because they are critical elements of sea lines of communications (SLOCs) and link seas and oceans, providing shorter, cheaper, and safe maritime trade. The maritime security requires control of these choke points. Position and capabilities of a canal specify its importance for the national, regional, and the global policy and security. The Eastern Roman Empire, The Ottoman Empire and its successor Republic of Turkey have defended for centuries the Black Sea straits zone from raids and attempts to take it away with force. Additional waterway in straits area will increase security importance of the area, and will heighten the security importance of the straits. The link between Black Sea and the Mediterranean is of great importance for Europe, Asia, North Africa, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the European Union. This brings the project for canal between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara to a vital position for many countries. Canal Istanbul project is scheduled to become operational in 2023. The canal may bring not only additional waterway and prosperity, but to originate security challenges, also. They will range over defence, general security and order, political, and environmental domains. The published information aroused discussions about Canal Istanbul’s affect on local nature and people in Turkey, its impact on international maritime traffic, and possibility to ‘surround’ the Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits signed at Montreux, July 20th, 1936. Defence and protection review for Canal Istanbul is included in this article, along with proposals. Important part of the article is the overview and comparison between Montreux Convention and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

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