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Turkey has fought more than 200 wildfires in the past month. Eskişehir, Muğla, Artvin, Hatay, Balıkesir, Antalya, Urfa, Manisa, Aydın, Çanakkale and other cities.
The fire that started on Sunday (August 18) in Karabağlar, and spread to Seferihisar and Menderes in İzmir, destroying 600 acres of forestland, was extinguished last night (August 20).
It is not yet known how much area was damaged in the fires. But there has been controversy over the late intervention in the fires and the lack of use of firefighting aircraft.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Turkish Aeronautical Association (THK) drew criticism.
Reactions are rising because it was revealed that the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry had tendered its deal with the THK on firefighting aircraft to another company in July last year.
What did the minister say?
Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Bekir Pakdemirli said yesterday, "When we hire aircraft from outside, we assign the forestry personnel in these planes. Our forest staff doesn't want to fly this aircraft because they don't find them safe. If there are people who defend these planes, the planes are at the ramp in Ankara. Engines of three aircraft are malfunctioned and three are leaking oil. Those who want to fly can fly," he said in a statement.
Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, whom we tried to reach over the allegations, did not return to bianet. We were first directed to the secretariat of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and then to the General Directorate of Forestry. No official spoke on the grounds that Minister Pakdemirli will issue a press release on the matter.
We then called the THK authorities. An official from the THK, who did not want to be named, told bianet that they had six CL-215 firefighting aircraft, but the ministry said they could not currently use these aircraft because they had not given them the tender, hence the aircrafts are kept idle.
Are the planes malfunctioned?
About the minister's statement that there are malfunctioned planes, the official said that a company named THK Teknik (THK Teknik Aircraft Maintenance Services Inc.) was established for technical affairs maintenance.
"We have the ability to repair our own aircraft," the official said after noting that they considered the allegations ridiculous. We already do the maintenance of military aircraft in Isparta and a few more places," he said.
Expressing that they are an experienced institution of 95 years, the official said they do not know why the ministry gave the tender to another company.
"Our contract was renewed every year. It has not been renewed this year, with claims that we are incompetent. They gave the tender to another firm, but that firm has no firefighting aircraft.
"The debate started in Muğla's Dalaman and Fethiye districts in July when 400 hectares of forestland was burned. We contacted the ministry, prepared our planes. We have said that we can help free of charge and that these forests are the national wealth of Turkey. But they told us there was no need for help. If the authorities had asked us for help, we were ready to help.
"The aim of the THK is to improve Turkish aviation. We work in many fields, from sportive aviation to fire extinguishers, from air ambulance to academic and pilotage training, from aircraft manufacturing to aircraft maintenance and modernization.
"We are offended about the bad touting of the name of a 95-year-old institution in the media. People blame us because not knowing what happened. But the institution will overcome that."
Photo: AA
Saying they were happy to see an independent campaign launched on social media named, "Let the firebirds fly," the official shared the following information on the CL-215 firefighting aircraft in their inventory:
"Normally during the summer season, we were distributing our planes to places that were deemed necessary and dangerous in accordance with the guidance of the General Directorate of Forestry. So we could intervene in the fires as soon as possible. The CL-215s have a capacity of 6 tons of water and they are amphibian i.e. they are capable of landing on both land and water. They can fill 6 tons of water in 20 seconds. So we can intervene in fires very quickly.
"Helicopters can carry one and a half tons of water and are 3 times slower than airplanes. We hope that they will correct this mistake and we will serve our country again. (HA/VK)
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