20 Lira Istanbul Canal

Issued as part of Turkey's ongoing topographical and architectural commemorative program, this piece marks the announcement of the Kanal İstanbul project — a proposed 45-kilometer artificial waterway that would run parallel to the Bosphorus, linking the Black Sea to the Marmara. The project has been deeply divisive, with critics citing the 1936 Montreux Convention, which governs naval passage through the Bosphorus and would not automatically apply to a new artificial canal.

Whether the canal is ever built, this coin documents the political moment of its ambition.