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Sunday ,1 August 2021 (YJC)_ The number of forest fires that have gripped the country since last week dropped as Turkey continues to suspect the fires may be linked to arson by the terrorist group PKK, whose affiliate threatened arson attacks.
Turkey wrapped up a week in the fight against forest fires that devastated its southern region with relative success. The causes of the forest fires are still not clear, but suspicions center on the terrorist group PKK, whose members were behind previous forest fires in the country. An affiliate of the terrorist group did not directly claim responsibility for the fires but openly threatened the country with arson attacks targeting both its forests and people on Sunday.
As of Sunday, 107 out of 112 wildfires across the country are under control, the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Bekir Pakdemirli announced. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was in Antalya to visit the affected areas, said multiple investigations were underway to find the possible perpetrators behind the fires. "We hope that our police, gendarme and intelligence units will analyze every sign, information and intelligence on this issue. We are disturbed by the sabotage suspicion. If there are traitors who have gone so far to set our country on fire, it is our duty to nab them and ensure they receive the harshest punishment," Erdoğan said.
The president said that they were aware that the number of forest fires and areas affected by forest fires doubled after the leaders of "the terrorist group" instructed their subordinates to set forests on fire last year. He was referring to the PKK. "We are determined to wipe out the cells of terrorist group in cities, just like we are close to ending their presence in the mountains and beyond our borders," Erdoğan added.
Turkish people on social media were quick to put the blame on the PKK-linked "Children of Fire Initiative" late Thursday for a series of fires that have hit Turkey recently, as PKK sympathizers also hailed the fires on Twitter. The PKK has a long history of burning Turkey's forests as a method of "vengeance" against the Turkish state, causing civilian deaths and environmental destruction in the process. The almost consecutive nature of fires triggered concerns that they might be the result of a string of arson attacks, which Turkish netizens blamed the PKK for. The so-called "initiative," in a statement published on their website, threatened the country with new arson attacks Sunday. The group said they would carry out arson attacks everywhere, along with sabotage attacks. It called upon its members to kill anyone opposing the terrorist group by starting fires.
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