Wildfire in southwest Turkey 'largely’ under control: Erdogan

24-06-2022
Rudaw
A+ A-
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that the wildfire in the country’s southwestern province of Mugla has mostly been controlled, adding that the blaze has not caused any casualties. 

A major forest in Turkey’s Aegean town of Marmaris caught fire on Tuesday. The area is partially populated. 

“Fortunately, there are no casualties,” Erdogan told reporters near the incident area on Friday. “This thing [wildfire] has largely been controlled. I hope we can quickly resolve the issues in the region by planting trees,” reported the state media.  

Marmaris is one of the country’s popular places for holidaymakers. A series of wildfires in Mugla and Bodrum last year devastated tens of thousands of hectares. A European Union atmosphere monitor said at the time that the blazes were the most intense in Turkey’s history.   

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Thursday that a suspect had been arrested for causing the fresh wildfire who has allegedly confessed to starting the fire due to a “misunderstanding with his family.”

Erdogan said that it is fine with him if whatever heavy sentence is given to the suspect, including execution. 

Comments

Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.

To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.

We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.

Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.

Post a comment

Required
Required
 

The Latest

A protest in Turkey in support of the Kurdish city of Kobane on November 1, 2014. Photo: AFP

Five former HDP lawmakers to stand trial on Kobane case

Five former lawmakers of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) are set to stand trial on Tuesday for their alleged involvement in deadly 2014 protests which called on Ankara to aid the Kurdish city of Kobane in northeast Syria (Rojava)