Azerbaijan on Saturday provided 53 fire trucks to Turkey, where forest fires in the past few days have led to deaths as well as material damage.
The Emergency Situations Ministry sent the vehicles meant to fight large fires, as well as 220 personnel by land. Earlier, 100 Azerbaijani firefighters arrived in the Turkish province of Mugla.
While the trucks will reach the affected areas in two days, Baku will also send a helicopter on Sunday. Many other countries have also offered help.
Since Wednesday, as many as 101 forest fires have erupted in Turkey, with most of them being in southern regions. The Turkish authorities managed to control 91 of them, and six people lost their lives.
Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli said efforts are underway to control the remaining blazes.
The Turkish president has visited areas affected by forest fires, saying 50 million (Turkish) liras [$5.91million] have been released to meet urgent needs.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Saturday the detention of the suspected person that may be involved in forest arsons in the country.
“One person has been detained in connection with the fire in Milas. Our debt is to find those setting our forests on fire,” he said at a press conference in Marmaris broadcast by NTV channel.
The authorities do not exclude the possibility of arson and sabotage on the part of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is outlawed in the republic.
A wildfire broke out on July 28 not far from the resort town of Manavgat in Turkey’s southern Antalya province due to extremely hot weather in the region, according to preliminary data. Then on Thursday, the fires erupted in a number of other provinces, including the resort provinces of Aydin and Mugla. According to Turkey’s disaster and emergency management agency, the number of casualties as a result of the blazes has reached six. As of now 88 out of 98 fire areas have been extinguished.
Turkey’s leader said on July 29 that the state had mobilized all possible firefighting means. According to the presidential administration, over 1,100 units of equipment are engaged in the firefighting effort, including three Russian Be-200 amphibious aircraft.
Specialists think that high temperatures in the region and strong winds are one of the main reasons for the wildfires.
