Press
Forest and bush fires keep breaking out around the Kurdish cities in southeastern Turkey. Local residents blame the energy company DEDAŞ.
Diyarbakir – Dryness, winds and high temperatures can turn any spark into a huge fire. This time, fires have broken out around many Kurdish cities, killing at least 15 people. According to a report by the news agency Mesopotamia The fires are increasingly threatening inhabited areas.
Residents in areas such as Nusaybin and Artuklu are now accusing the authorities of not helping or of only doing so too late. “Citizens turned to the governor and asked for a helicopter to be deployed to extinguish the fire. Although the governor said he would intervene, no firefighting helicopter has yet been sent to the area,” the news agency writes. Mesopotamia.
Forest fires in Turkey – medico criticizes inadequate aid
The aid organisation medico also criticises the inadequate aid in the disaster areas. “The state did not react quickly enough and was not prepared for such a wildfire. Some people are therefore trying to put out the fires themselves with hoses and water tanks,” says Anita Starosta, Syria consultant, Türkiye and Iraq at the aid organization medico, in conversation with Fr.de from IPPEN.MEDIA.
Many fields and animals were burned in the fires – the livelihood of many people in the region. It is not yet clear whether and how those affected will be compensated.
Forest fires in Turkey probably caused by overhead power lines
But it is not just the heat that is causing fires in the region. The old power lines, some of which are mounted on wooden poles and run above ground, can also cause fires. The TV station HalkTV has published a video on X showing how a spark falls from a mast onto a field and starts a fire. “In Diyarbakir, a fire caused by sparks from electrical wires was caught on camera. The fire damaged 146 hectares of wheat, 20 hectares of corn and 4 hectares of cotton fields,” the video says.
Journalist Medine Mamedoglu interviewed an eyewitness who saw a fire being started by the outdated overhead power lines of the energy company Dicle Elektrik Dağıtım (DEDAŞ). “We have been asking for repairs for years, but they don’t do it. The wires broke and fell down, then the village started burning. We turned to DEDAŞ many times, but they did nothing,” the eyewitness said in a video on X.
Erdogan says cause of fire was “burning of fields”
president Recep Tayyip Erdogan sees the cause in the burning of fields after the harvest, which got out of control due to winds. The fire brigade is working flat out to put out the fires. Criticism of Erdogan’s words comes from the former MP of the pro-Kurdish HDP, Ferhat Encü. “The fire was caused by the electrical lines of DEDAŞ, which they privatised and then sold off to their friends,” said Encü in his post on X. “There was no extinguishing work from the air or from the land, even your local police prevented them from intervening in the fire.” (erpe)
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