Turkey’s forests are growing, Forestry Ministry claims

ISTANBUL – Anadolu Agency

Forestry and Waterworks Minister Veysel Eroğlu has claimed that forested areas areas are growing in Turkey, despite an opposite trend across the world.

Eroğlu said people overreact when “several trees are cut in Istanbul” and recalled that the Yalova Municipality, from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), had cut down 18,000 pine trees.

“We had conditions [for the construction of the third airport and third bridge]. It is in the contract. Three trees will be planted for each one cut ... A total of 1.5 million trees have been planted in this respect so far. One million trees will be planted in 2015 with the same purpose,” he told a press conference in Istanbul on Jan. 9.

Meanwhile, speaking on Istanbul's current water situation, Eroğlu said the city's dams are "75 percent full," vowing that there will not be any water cuts during the summers of 2015 and 2016.