Forestry minister writes lyrics for song on reforestation of Ayvalık

ISTANBUL

A folk song with lyrics written by Turkey’s forestry minister will be used in a campaign to support the reforestation of burnt forest lands in the Ayvalık district of the western province of Balıkesir, daily Habertürk has reported.

Singer Haluk Levent, who is also the founder of the Anatolian People and Peace Platform (AHBAP), will sing Forestry Minister Veysel Eroğlu’s song as part of the project.

A special concert on Dec. 15 will inaugurate the campaign, which aims to support the reforestation of 20 hectares of burnt land.

Levent will sing Eroğlu’s song titled “Ayvalık Is Ours” during the concert, and three months after the concert 33,350 saplings will be planted in the burnt ground.

The campaign began after Levent took to social media to call on the authorities to “plant saplings there instead of building villas.”

In response, Eroğlu vowed to compose a folk song for Levent to sing as part of the campaign.

On Aug. 26, the General Directorate of Forestry announced the reforestation project, after 20 hectares of land in the Hakkıbey peninsula were reduced to ashes in a fire on Aug. 17.

Levent is already well-known for his social activism. Previously he and his platform AHBAP helped a Syrian refugee find shelter after a photo emerged of the boy cuddling and sleeping with a stray dog on a street in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district.