Turkey is dealing with its worst forest fires in recent years as the scorching hot summer months come to a close.
More than 270 fires have been reported in over 53 provinces since July 27, mostly in the Mediterranean and Aegean coastal regions. These are hotter and drier than the rest of the country, which also makes them prime holiday destinations, particularly the areas around cities like Antalya, Muğla and Aydın.
Eight people have died in the fires so far, while hundreds have been injured and thousands evacuated from their homes. Some 18 fire planes, along with equipment and firefighting squads have been dispatched to Turkey by the EU, Croatia, Spain, Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Iran and Israel to help combat the flames.
Even so, as of August 10, Turkey was still not in control of the blazes, with three fires continuing to burn in several provinces.
Hatice Enhoş was stranded on a boat for hours at the Oymapınar reservoir during a fire in Manavgat, Antalya province. Among the passengers on the boat were her elderly parents and her young grandchildren.
The owner of a restaurant on the shore of the reservoir, Enhoş had to use her own initiative to rescue her family and staff, the 57-year-old told Inside Turkey.
“The fire started out pretty far from where we were, we didn’t think it would reach us. I noticed the smoke at night, and I called my kids who live in the town centre for help. Sparks started flying above our heads as we were trying to carry our belongings down to the lake. I tried to send my daughter, two grandchildren and parents home but they had to come back. The flames had shut off the roads, they couldn’t pass,” she said.
After smoke enveloped the shore, Enhoş set off in a boat with her family and staff.
“The lake was our only chance for survival: We thought we would have been able to reach land at a point where the flames weren’t scorching, but the entirety of the 30-kilometre lake was encircled by the fire,” she said.
“Everyone on the boat was dialling emergency lines for help, but nobody would pick up our calls. Officials who did answer did nothing but ask ‘Where are you, where are you.’ We all thought we were going to die.”
The 15 passengers waited on the lake for six and-a-half hours. By the following morning, the fire had died down enough for Enhoş to head back to the shore, frustrated at the lack of official help.
“The government didn’t send firefighters, didn’t drop water on the area, and didn’t send a helicopter to pick us up,” she said. “All the houses in the area were burned, people’s animals died, our village burned down as we watched, all because of negligence. We were left to deal with it on our own.”
Turkey’s forestry directorate reported that 2,138 hectares of land burned down in the first seven months of 2021, although data on the recent fires have not yet been compiled. More than 100,000 hectares of land were burned in the recent disasters, according to an estimate by Doğanay Tolunay, a lecturer in forestry at Istanbul University. Tolunay said that figure was equivalent to around a fifth of the area of the city of Istanbul.
Tolunay, who took part in firefighting efforts, said that while forest fires have become more common in recent years, the Turkish state has not been sufficiently prepared – in particular, the Turkish Aeronautical Association (THK) lacks firefighting planes – and was late to intervene this year.
“Fires in the Mediterranean can spread very far very quickly if you can’t intervene within ten to 15 minutes, which is what happened in Turkey,” said Tolunay. “Ankara has become increasingly unsuccessful in fighting forest fires in the last three years, as the state decided against the rental of THK planes in 2019. This really weakened the government’s hand in firefighting.”
The global climate crisis has made fires a constant risk for Turkey, Tolunay continued, adding that even larger forest fires were likely unless the government was better prepared. Firefighting efforts, he suggested, should be in effect year-round, with a permanent THK airplane and helicopter fleet.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and forestry minister Bekir Pakdemirli have countered criticism by saying that the THK’s Canadair CL-215 fire planes are old and non-operational, even though the planes sent to Turkey by Spain and the EU were identical to those disparaged by the ministers.
A former THK chair, Erdoğan Karakuş, told Inside Turkey that the fleet could in fact be made operational within a matter of days.
“These planes could fly for another 20 years as long as maintenance is carried out regularly,” Karakuş said.
The use of THK planes could have prevented the fires from spreading so far, Karakuş noted, adding that two Beriev BE 200ES fire planes recently rented from Russia were not suitable for use in Turkey.
“The THK planes are much more advantageous than the planes rented from Russia because they are smaller,” he said. “These are the most suited to Turkey’s geography and are the most practical. Russian planes can’t fly rugged terrains because they have limited manoeuvering abilities. This is why Spain, France, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Canada, the US and even the EU continue to use CL-215s.”
As the THK aircraft sit idle, the rental of Russian planes costs Turkey 1.3 million liras a day.
Another debate surrounding the fires has been whether or not the flames were started deliberately. Government officials have overlooked natural causes, the climate crisis and accidents as the cause, instead claiming that some fires were acts of arson by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). No clear evidence of arson has yet been made public.
There was no point in speculating on the cause of the fires at this point, ecologist and fire expert İsmail Bekar told Inside Turkey, noting that the primary concern should be swift intervention to put out the flames. However, he added, human activity was often part of the reason behind forest fires.
“Some 85 to 90 per cent of fires are started by human activity: Picnics, barbecues, straws, cigarettes, broken glass, arson and electrical lines are among the reasons,” Bekar said. The fact there were no recorded lightning strikes during the period in which fires broke out suggests that human activity of one form or another was a factor.
“There were fires in the past, and there will continue to be fires in the future. What we really should be discussing is efforts to curb the causes of fires,” he said. “The past five years have seen 11,800 hectares of land burn down in 2,771 fires across Turkey. The previous five years saw 2,500 fires that scorched 6,300 hectares of land. The same number of fires destroyed nearly twice the land, meaning that fires in Turkey are growing.”
The global climate crisis is an often-overlooked factor in debates in Turkey about forest fires, said Gökçe Şencan, a climate researcher at Public Policy Institute of California. Fires are a natural part of the Mediterranean climate, but drier summers and lower precipitation have increased temperatures and are making fires more violent.
“The climate crisis is really global warming, which means an increase in average temperatures. The result is inconsistent weather events in the global climate. A spike in temperatures doesn’t necessarily mean an even increase across the globe, and the Eastern Mediterranean is expected to warm up more than other areas,” Şencan said.
“For instance, overall global warming of 1.5 degrees would work out as two degrees in this area, which is a huge difference. This creates a risk of extreme heat, which would cause Turkey’s flora to dry up quickly and creates an environment prone to fires.”
Unfortunately, Turkey was not prepared for an increased risk of forest fires, Şencan said, adding that the country was unprepared even for regular natural disasters.
“We know that forest fires are an increased risk in the Mediterranean even without the climate crisis,” he said. “Negligence leads to more loss of life and property. The climate crisis is likely to lead to more damage caused by natural disasters. What should be done is to shape prevention efforts with the climate crisis in mind.”