Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his country has started an investigation into indications of terrorism linked to the outbreak of dozens of forest fires in the south of the country, the authorities are still struggling to control the rest of them, and the number of fire victims has risen to 6, as well as dozens of injured.
Yesterday evening, Saturday, in front of a crowd of citizens in the Marmaris region of Mugla state, where the fires are continuing, President Erdogan said that "if we prove that there is a link to terrorism with forest fires, and we have reached some indications, we will follow the matter to the end and do what is necessary."
The Turkish president added, "Our security forces, with their various arms and intelligence, are conducting investigations into the fires, and just as you think, it also comes to our minds that terrorist organizations may have a hand in the outbreak of these fires, and the terrorist organization announced last year that it would burn our forests."
Huge fires broke out in the tourist area of Marmaris on the Aegean Sea (Reuters)
It's not a coincidence
On Friday, Erdogan said - in press statements - that the issue of the fires "is not a coincidence, as the fires started almost simultaneously in more than one province in southern Turkey," adding, "We must stand together on this day, take a unified decision and take united steps towards one together."
"Who started these fires? We have doubts. All our institutions are conducting a thorough investigation into this matter, and suspects have been arrested," Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on the same day from the devastated region of Manavgat.
The authorities arrested 5 people in Osmaniye district, on suspicion of their connection to the outbreak of fires in this area, and the private news agency "Demiroren" (DHE) stated that it was also believed that two boys accidentally set the fire that swept through Marmaris.
Forest fires have erupted since last Wednesday in several states in southern and southwestern Turkey, including Antalya, Adana, Mugla, Mersin and Osmaniye, which President Erdogan announced yesterday as disaster areas, and promised to compensate the affected. The past four days, 91 of them have been controlled.
41 simultaneous fires in the forests of 13 provinces in Turkey,
5 suspects were arrested and an investigation was opened.
We recall that the secular journalist Can Atakli stated that:
"Erdogan's departure requires great popular anger, disasters, loss of many lives, huge fires, not a single forest fire, but like the fires of Australia, all over the country."
— Muhammet Erdoğan 🇹🇷- Muhammed Erdogan (@Muhamed_Erdogan) July 29, 2021
Deaths and injuries
The death toll from the fires that broke out in recent days rose to 6 deaths and more than 300 injuries as of Saturday evening, while the relevant authorities were able to extinguish most of the fires.
CNN Turk said that two firefighters died Saturday during fire control efforts in the Manavgat district of Antalya, and thousands were evacuated from their homes in the tourist area.
Al-Jazeera correspondent in Manafgat in Antalya state - Al-Moataz Billah Hassan - stated that many of the afflicted areas in the Manafagat area are difficult to reach through civil defense vehicles, due to their mountainous nature, and then resort to specialized aircraft that spray fires with water because the area is close to the sea.
Satellite images showed the smoke from Antalya and Mersin reaching the island of Cyprus, about 150 km away.
Turkish radio and television stations said a new fire broke out on Saturday in the town of Bodrum, a popular holiday resort and holiday destination on the Aegean coast, and some residential areas and hotels were evacuated.
Firefighters are trying to control the fire before it spreads to residential areas.
The south of Turkey usually witnesses forest fires during the hot summer months, but local authorities say that the recent fires covered larger areas, and were fueled by high temperature, humidity and high winds.