ISTANBUL — Forest fires raged in western Turkey for a third consecutive day on Saturday, exacerbated by strong winds and hot temperatures, authorities said.
According to Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate, more than 130 fires broke out across the country last week. Most have been brought under control, but eight major fires continue to rage in several provinces, including Izmir, Aydin, Manisa, Karabuk and Bolu.
Thousands of firefighters were battling the blazes on land and in the air, with dozens of aircraft and hundreds of vehicles taking part in the emergency response.
Thousands of people have been evacuated from the affected areas, but no casualties have been reported, according to Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli, who spoke to reporters on Saturday during his tour of the affected provinces.
Yumakli cited low humidity, strong winds and high temperatures as aggravating factors. The General Directorate of Forestry warned people not to light fires outdoors for the next 10 days due to the weather conditions in western Turkey, warning of a 70 percent increased risk of forest fires. Firefighters extinguished a blaze in Canakkale province on Friday that threatened World War I memorials and graves at the Gallipoli battle site.
On the peninsula where Ottoman troops repelled an Allied landing in 1915, flames have reached Canterbury Cemetery, where New Zealand soldiers are buried. Images from the site in northwest Turkey show soot-blackened headstones in a scorched garden overlooking the Aegean Sea.
Meanwhile, authorities have arrested four people in Bolu in connection with the fires, two of whom were arrested and two released.
In June, a fire swept through settlements in southeastern Turkey, killing 11 people and requiring medical treatment for dozens more.
