Wildfires hit forests in southern Turkey

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

Many untouched forests and wild animals have been negatively affected by wildfires across the country, while experts warned against new forest fires in Turkey’s southern and Aegean provinces. 

Fires in the Lice and Kulp districts of the southeastern province of Diyarbakır burned forests on July 19 and 20, though officials said they were under control on July 20 morning.  

The fires erupted in the Duru area of Lice and near the Barın and Goderne villages of Kulp on July 19. 

Lice District Mayor Rezan Zuğurli said firemen extinguished several small fires which had started in Lice on July 19, adding a major fire had erupted in the evening and they have worked to extinguish this fire. 

Zuğurli said a 1200-hectare area has been burned by the fire.

Meanwhile, a fire has started in a forest in the Gülnar district of Mersin province in southern Turkey.

The fire was sparked in an area around five kilometers from the Akkuyu Nuclear Power plant construction site. Helicopters were used in extinguishing the fire. Around 100 hectares of forest has been burnt in the fire, according to the reports. 

Mersin anti-nuclear platform members accused officials of being late to join the efforts to extinguish the fire, which had already been started by locals. 

Republican People’s Party (CHP) Mersin deputy Fikri Sağlar claimed the fire could not be controlled due to negligence. Meanwhile, the Meteorology 4th Region Department in Antalya said in a statement the temperature would increase to 41 Celsius in the touristic southern province of Antalya and the Aegean province of Muğla. 

The statement said temperatures will be high but the humidity level will be low, warning such conditions increase the possibility of wildfires.