Turkey is Again in Flames: New Forest Fires Erupt

A fire has broken out in forested areas between the villages of Yalaygünü (Kurdish: Sevku) and Othulbahche (Kurdish: Hezk) in the Ovacik district of Tunceli province, Turkey. This has been reported by Ermenihaber.am.

Tunceli Mayor Fatih Mehmet Maçoglu announced on his Twitter account that the cause of the fire is military operations being conducted in the area. Local sources report that during a military operation carried out on September 13 in Ovacik, the region was bombarded for about 20 minutes, which caused the forest to begin burning. It has been noted that no intervention is being made to bring the fire under control.

Additionally, it should be mentioned that following clashes between security forces and members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the buffer zone between the Hozat and Ovacik districts in August, efforts to extinguish the forest fire that broke out took a long time to begin.