US EditionThe Political Machine Feeding Turkey’s Wildfires
İZMIR, TURKEY, JUL 3 – Evacuations in Çeşme and Ödemiş followed two wildfires intensified by high winds and drought, with aerial firefighting using planes and helicopters deployed to control the blazes.
- Two wildfires raged near Izmir, Turkey, in early 2025, forcing evacuations and damaging homes and infrastructure across drought-hit areas.
- These fires followed a surge in wildfire frequency since 2010, driven by climate change, human activity, and weakened forest protection policies under recent government tourism development laws.
- Turkey’s forestry workforce numbers 11,450 but experts estimate at least 22,000 firefighters are needed to effectively combat ongoing fires worsened by underfunding and loss of budget value due to Lira depreciation.
- President Erdoğan pledged last November to "repaint the country emerald green" by planting 7 billion saplings, claiming a 12% forest cover increase despite conflicting investigations and ongoing infrastructure-driven deforestation.
- The fires highlight systemic issues as legal permits favor tourism and mining expansion, often overriding environmental concerns, suggesting current policies may undermine Turkey’s ability to prevent future wildfires.
14 Articles
14 Articles
Fires are raging again on Thursday in the Turkish tourist province of Izmir, driven by changing winds, at more than 85 km/h, which complicate the work of firefighters, according to local officials.
The Political Machine Feeding Turkey’s Wildfires
Pink smoke tore through blue skies, as families, lulled by their day at the beach, drove home from the resort town of Cesme, on the Aegean coast in Izmir province, on Aug. 17, 2024. Less than an hour later, they stopped their cars along the road leading to a massive wall of fire, powerlessly watching as the agitated amber beast devoured the flank of the mountain to which it was spreading. “Where are the helicopters?” one baffled onlooker in a su…
Since Thursday, the flames are raging near Izmir, Turkey. Nearly 50,000 people have been evacuated and firefighters are struggling to control the fires Two fires are raging on Thursday since the
The two burning homes on Wednesday night threaten power grids, homes and farms, and no victims have yet been reported.
While the fires that have been going on for days in many parts of Izmir, especially in Çeşme, have reduced forest areas to ashes, the inadequacy of the fire extinguishing efforts has drawn reactions from the citizens. While the municipality's participation in the fire extinguishing efforts has become a subject of debate, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality
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