Turkey: 180 forest fires in a week - "We are at war" says the Minister of Agriculture

Rescue crews in Turkey are currently evacuating hundreds of villagers from their homes by sea, as a raging fire has dangerously approached a thermal power plant where thousands of tonnes of lignite are stored.

At the sound of sirens calling for the evacuation of the area, residents with their few belongings who were able to escape from their homes boarded outboard of the coast guard, mobilized from the port of Eren, not far from the city of Milas, on the border of which is located the thermal power plant, broadcast by journalists of the French Agency on the spot.

Worry

The unprecedented fires that have been sweeping Turkey for more than a week are being blamed by experts on the extreme heatwave affecting the southern part of the country and climate change.

The local authorities assured that the hydrogen tanks used to cool the fuel and lignite plant were emptied and then workers filled them with water as a precaution.

"But there is a risk of the fire spreading to the thousands of tonnes of lignite inside," said Osman Gurun, a local official, at the station.

Photos uploaded to social media sites by the mayor of Milan, Muhammad Tokat, immortalize flames in front of the gates of the power plant.

"The station is being completely evacuated," Tokat, a member of the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), said on Twitter.

The fire was brought under control on Wednesday, thanks to the efforts of two firefighting aircraft sent by Spain and helicopters. But the flames were rekindled yesterday afternoon.

"We have been asking and warning you for days. "The fire has extinguished the thermal power plant", the mayor of Mila said earlier yesterday, asking for "an urgent firefighting aircraft" to be sent to his area.

More than 180 fires

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been widely criticized for handling the fires that killed eight people, gave a live televised interview when evacuation orders were acknowledged that the power plant the fire ".

More than 180 fires have engulfed forests, crops and residential areas on Turkish shores in the Mediterranean since last Wednesday.

The fires also hit tourist destinations, where activity had just begun to resume, after months of restrictive measures due to the pandemic of the new coronavirus.

According to the European Union's satellite monitoring service, the "radiation power" of fires in Turkey has been at an "unprecedented" level since 2003.

The opposition accuses President Erdogan of failing to maintain a fleet of Turkish firefighting aircraft and of being slow to accept international aid offered to Turkey.

The Turkish Broadcasting Council (RTÜK) has warned television networks against broadcasting news of fires that could "cause fear and anxiety" in the population.

Mr Erdogan accused the opposition of trying to gain political benefit from the fires, although other countries, such as Greece, are also affected. "Forest fires are an international threat, like the new coronavirus pandemic," he said, defending himself and his government.

"As in the rest of the world, there is a great increase in forest fires in our country. "There should be no room for micropolitics on this issue," he said.

"War"

In the early days of the fires, pro-government media columnists and commentators accused the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an autonomous Kurdish organization that Ankara and its Western allies describe as terrorist, of being responsible for the fires.

But authorities are now attributing the fires to the heat wave that continues to plague southern Turkey.

Experts have stressed that climate change will increase the frequency and intensity of forest fires in countries such as Turkey.

Turkish Agriculture Minister Bekir Pakdemirli noted that the temperature in the Aegean city of Marmaris broke a record, reaching 45,5 ° Celsius this week.

"We are at war," the minister told reporters. "We must keep our morale prosperous (…). I urge everyone to be patient. "

, AFP

in.gr