A number of fires have been raging in the south of Turkey for the last couple of days, and on Saturday President Recep tayyip Erdogan declared the regions affected by the wildfires in Antalya, Muga, Mersin, Adana and Osmaniye as “Disaster Areas Affecting General Life.”
“We will continue to take all necessary steps to heal our nation’s wounds, compensate for its losses and improve its opportunities,” Erdogan said in a Twitter post.
Fires erupting one after the other are usual during forest fire season when temperatures are at their highest, but the damage was unprecedented this time as flames devastated entire villages, Daily Sabah reports.
The wildfires were particularly damaging in the vacation resort towns of Antalya and Muğla and quickly spread due to strong winds. Mersin, Adana and Osmaniye, three neighboring provinces in the south, have also been experiencing massive fires since mid-week.
