Turkey joins countries that have sent aid against the fires that devastate Greece, which is suffering an “unprecedented environmental crisis”
Turkey will send two planes to Greece to help its neighbouring country in its fight against the devastating wildfires that have desolated several areas of the country for a week, especially the large island of Euboea (the largest in the country, located north of Athens), given that the vast majority of fires declared in Turkey are already extinguished or under control.
“Greece has asked us (extinction) planes, something that we value positively. Two 40-ton aircraft used by the General Directorate of Forests (GMO) have been prepared and will depart (for Greece) once the procedures are completed by the (Greek) foreign ministry”, announced the Minister of Agriculture and Forests of Turkey, Bekir Pakdemirli.
The decision was confirmed on August 9 by Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias after a telephone conversation with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu. “I thanked (the Turkish foreign minister) because he informed me that two Turkish fire fighting planes will be sent to Greece, given that he indicated that the wildfires in Turkey are now under control,” Dendias explained in a message posted on his official account on Twitter.
During this conversation, Çavuşoğlu would have conveyed to his Hellenic counterpart his condolences for the wildfires in Greece, where in the last hours fires seem to have begun to subside on the island of Euboea, but there are still many active ones that must be fought from the air.
Greece is suffering an “unprecedented environmental crisis”
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has faced harsh criticism and has had to apologise for the mismanagement of what he himself has defined as an “unprecedented environmental crisis“, which has burned 65,000 hectares, 40 times more than usual in other years. Several countries have already sent aid to Greece, including Spain; Spanish planes have also been fighting wildfires in Turkey.
The Turkish Minister of Agriculture and Forests has defended the decision to send planes to help Greece despite the fact that there are still active fires in Turkey: “Forests belong to the whole planet,” said the Turkish minister, adding that “the size of the fires (in Greece) has reached very critical dimensions, taking into account the size of the country and of its forests ”.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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