For months now, rumors have been swirling around Turkey that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was getting ready to unveil what was being dubbed a "crazy project." Well, that day has arrived. Erdogan has told a conference audience that he plans to initiate a project to build a canal near Istanbul that will connect the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara, thus allowing ships to bypass the Bosphorus Straits, which cut through the heart of the city.

According to reports, preliminary studies for the some 50 kilometer long canal, which would be built west of Istanbul, will take two years. There has been no mention of cost, but Erdogan reportedly said that Turkey -- which, it is worth nothing, is approaching parliamentary elections this summer -- will have no problem financing it. More details here.

[UPDATE -- There are some interesting legal questions surrounding the possibility of Turkey building an alternative route to the Bosphorus Straits. Traffic through the straits is currently regulated by an international treaty dating to the 1930's which essentially guarantees ships free passage through them. So the big question is whether Turkey can actually force ships to go through the proposed new canal it plans to build? More on that here.]

[UPDATE II - Aengus Collins, author of the "Istanbul Notes" blog, has a great post that takes a critical look at Erdogan's "crazy plan" for Istanbul and offers up some suggestions for other unconventional projects that might have a bigger impact on Istanbul's quality of life.]