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New Delhi: Even as international institutions, security experts and defense analysts continue to ponder on the cause of Tuesday’s explosion that ripped the port of Beirut, killing so far 135 people and leaving more than 5,000 injured, a Turkish Minister has attempted to stir controversy on the issue.
With the social media awash with speculation and conspiracy theories on the huge blast, Turkish Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank on August 5, attempted to use the explosion in promoting the construction of the controversial Canal Istanbul project.
The controversial infrastructure project seeks to carve out an artificial shipping canal on the outskirts of the European side of Istanbul in order to alleviate traffic from the Bosphorus Strait. The project referred by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as his ‘crazy project’, has been red-flagged by several environmental associations, and experts citing that it would prove disastrous for the region with severe environmental consequences.
Varank’s tweet (translated in English) read, ‘The 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, which caused the explosion that burned our hearts, passed through Istanbul’s Bosphorus [Strait] six years ago en route to Beirut.’
He further added that the incident proved the need for the government’s controversial Canal Istanbul project, which foresees building an artificial waterway connecting the Marmara Sea and the Black Sea in Istanbul’s west. The minister called the Canal Istanbul a ‘strategic security issue’.
Within minutes of his tweet, the Turkish minister was slammed and severely criticized for politicizing a tragic incident. Several social media users even demanded his resignation for his tweet.
