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Asia

Türkiye arrests 21 people over forest fires

27 July 2025 19:09 (UTC +04:00)

Land and air intervention continues in forest fires in Bursa, Karabük and Kahramanmaraş, Türkiye, APA reports, citing NTV.

The flames have intensified again due to the impact of the wind in the forest fires in Bursa. Turkey's Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı announced that 5 fires in 4 provinces have been brought under control.

A firefighter who suffered a cardiac arrest during the fire in Orhaneli has died. Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç announced that 21 people have been arrested in connection with the forest fires. Bursa Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Mustafa Bozbey, who was connected to the live broadcast on NTV by phone, said:

"We have experienced a very big disaster. We are experiencing one of the biggest disasters of recent years and recent times. Our lungs are burning. It is not only our forests that are burning, but also our insides. We are following the incident closely. We see that the flames are rising again in some places in the Gürsu Dışkaya region. It can be said that they started again just as they were about to be extinguished."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that they are ready day and night with 27 aircraft, 105 helicopters, approximately 6,000 ground vehicles, 25,000 forest hero workers and 132,000 volunteers to protect the Green Homeland against forest fires.

The President shared this on the X social platform.