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Fire in a forest in Turkey's black sea region sparks suspicion

A fire broke out and spread in a large forested area in Sürmene district of Turkey’s Trabzon province in the black region. While fire department teams were sent to the area and nearby roads were closed to traffic, Trabzon Governor Yücel Yavuz announced that the fire has been taken under control.

Governor of Trabzon: ‘It is a seasonal issue…’

Explaining in the announcement that the ‘fire broke out last night (January 7) and could not be intervened with quickly enough due to steep slopes in the area’, Governor Yavuz also stated around 15-20 hectares of land was impacted as a result of the fire.

Mentioning the reason for the fire breakout was not clear, Yavuz added: “Forests mean everything for us. We don’t want them to get harmed but this is a seasonal issue. Our efforts to put it out completely continue. We hope to be able to put it out by morning… Today the weather was at around 25 degree (Celsius). And, since it is the weekend, there could have been many people having picnic in the area. This is our guess. Maybe it resulted from spread of a small area of fire or a cigarette butt that was not put out… The fire might have spread with the impact of wind…”

Yavuz also said nobody got harmed or wounded as a result of the fire.

Public and politicians question: ‘Is the area put on fire on purpose?’

Meanwhile, as the area reminded many people of a recent statement of President Erdoğan where he had asserted that ‘Emir of Qatar wanted to be a sponsor for the province of Trabzon and build in the city hotels and big facilities for winter sports’, reactions grew on social media, taking the topic to status of top trend.

Several politicians, civil society members and artists also reacted and questioned whether the area that Erdoğan mentioned only a few weeks ago after the visit of the Emir was the part of the plan.

CHP’s İstanbul MP Barış Yarkadaş said in a tweet: “The forest in Trabzon’s Sürmene district that Recep Tayyip Erdoğan showed the Emir of Qatar by viewing it from air (in a plane) is on fire… Are they opening up the area for the Emir as an investment?”

Trabzon branch of Haziran Movement also shared a statement asking officials ‘if the forested area of Sürmene was included in the land that Erdoğan claimed to be planing to open for investment by Qatar Emir and if the area were to be designated as a forest again.’

Ministry of forestry: ‘It is legally impossible to use this land for other purposes’

Responding to reactions and speculations, Minister of Forest and Water Management Dr. Veysel Eroğlu said: “It is out of the question for these lands to be used for purposed other than as forested lands. Furthermore, it is also legally not possible. We are going to prepare the land that is affected from the fire for forestation again when the season comes...”

Source: http://www.birgun.net/haber-detay/trabzon-surmene-de-orman-yangini-142378.html



Az önce okuduğunuz haber, bağımsız bir medya organı tarafından size sunuldu.

Bağımsız gazetecilik; sermayeye karşı halkı, sömürüye karşı emeği, eşitsizliğe karşı adaleti, savaşlara karşı barışı, piyasacılığa karşı temel hakları, talana karşı doğayı, erkek şiddetine karşı kadınları, istismara karşı çocukları savunmanın olmazsa olmaz koşuludur.

Siz de gerçeğin sesini yükseltmek adına sorumluluk almak istiyorsanız, sadece birkaç dakikanızı ayırarak BirGün’e abone olabilir ve ‘#BirGünBenim’ diyebilirsiniz.

Şimdiden sonsuz teşekkürler…

BirGün bizim; hepimizin.

