Türkiye is experiencing a higher number of forest fires every year. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has identified Ankara as the city experiencing the most rapid temperature and weather changes in the country.
As mentioned, it is a common misconception that climate change is only about temperature changes. To assess the situation thoroughly, one must consider the broader impacts. Climate change also results in harsher storms, increased health-related problems, severe loss of species, and extinctions. One significant outcome is forest fires, which Türkiye has been dealing with increasingly in recent years.
The serious issue started in 2021, with a fire that started in Manavgat, Antalya, and lasted for two weeks in summer, spreading to several other cities in the Mediterranean region of Türkiye, causing over 1,500 people to get injured.
These fires have continued in subsequent years. The Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, İbrahim Yumaklı, stated, "We are giving great importance to this issue, especially in these days of increasing temperatures. Since the beginning of the year, we have intervened in 1,551 fires. Between June 1-14 alone, we intervened in around 590 fires, which meant that on average 19 fires occurred per day in June. Eight of the fires in June carried a high risk," highlighting the seriousness of the situation.
Moreover, the Director General of Forestry, Bekir Karacabey, added that with the usage of artificial intelligence, all information from the images to the tree structure of the region can be collected. According to the numbers, there was a fivefold increase in the number of forest fires compared to last year, and 97% of the fires are caused by humans.
There is another problem that follows these fires. Since the big forest fire that happened in 2021, there were some questions regarding the fact that there were hotels being built in the affected areas, right after the fire is taken under control.
All of the documentation was completed, the outline of the construction project was done within a week and the construction step was starting right after. Some of these are listed below.
Firstly, five days after the fire, SİNPAŞ started to build a 205-room, 5-star hotel project in an area with 1,407 condominiums in Kızılkum, within the Marmaris National Park area. The locals raised their voices and tried to show their reaction, but the Muğla Governorate decided that there was no need for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report for this project.
Secondly, despite being annulled twice by the Council of State, the privatization worth 277 million liras was not canceled. A criminal complaint was filed against public officials who failed to implement the Council of State's first annulment decision and the permission to investigate these officials was not granted. This chain of events raised questions among the public. Subsequently, construction work accelerated on Cengiz Holding's hotel and timeshare project in Cennet Bay, Muğla. In 2022, it was again decided that an EIA report was not necessary. Mir Bahattin Demir, the Co-Spokesperson of the Muğla Environment Platform Bodrum Assembly, stated that construction on the hotel resumed with the end of the tourism season in the region, which was declared a “Natural Site-Sustainable Protection and Controlled Area.”
Furthermore, the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy's company, a well-known luxurious hotel chain Maxx Royal, aims to build a hotel in a naturally protected area as well. Plans include building a 5-star hotel on a Grade 2 natural and Grade 3 archaeological site in Bodrum. It is also within the cultural and tourism protection and development zone.
However, this year, there was a statement made on the social media account of the General Directorate of Forestry regarding the related news "They started planting hotel saplings in the forest land that turned to ash three years ago in Muğla's Milas district,". It was pointed out that the image used in the news does not belong to the area where the forest fire occurred. "The area seen in the video used in the social media post belongs to a hotel in Bodrum and is located in the ‘Muğla Bodrum Türkbükü East Tourism Area,’ which was declared a tourism area by the Council of Ministers in 1987," refuting the allegations. However, not many people believed in this declaration.
Forest fires in Türkiye, exacerbated by climate change, have been a significant issue. Controversially, hotels were quickly built in affected areas, raising environmental concerns and questions about governmental transparency. Both the locals and the environmental activists are trying to raise their voices about this issue, but they could not always get the result they hoped to get.