Forest fires in many cities in the past summer burned both our trees and our lungs. Another detail that devastated the nation was the deficiencies in Turkey's preparations for forest fires. Last year, 177,476 hectares of land were burned to ash in fires, and no protective steps were taken against forest fires this year.
KAHRAMAN: “NO PRECAUTIONS AVAILABLE”
Ahmet Dursun Kahraman, Chairman of the Board of the Chamber of Environmental Engineers, said, “There is no indication that Turkey is ready for forest fires. There are no countermeasures. It is now possible to even say that there is a preference for forest fires. In terms of 'preparation', a step has been taken in the past weeks. A decision was made to expand the fire prevention roads by 10 meters on the right and left of the forest areas. Of course; In fact, it is obvious that this has a result beyond the meaning of fire prevention. Considering the existing forest road, which is 275,000 kilometers in total, the equivalent of this is that opening the ways to supply thousands of extra thousands logs. So it's just as much cutting of trees. The fact that there is no development other than this decision in terms of precaution is a sign that this new forest plundering in the background of this decision is the main target.”
“FORESTS ARE SACRIFICED TO THE MARKET RENT”
Dursun by saying “It is known that; the target is the plunder and exploitation of the forest; The result is deforestation,” added, “To put it simply, the construction industry all over the world has gone into a crisis in the supply of flat plate material such as mdf and particle board. Forests are sacrificed for the rent of this market. When you look at it, large integrated facilities with local names and producing such products have actually evolved into multinational companies. Only one of these integrated plants, whose domestic share is around 10 percent, meets 70 percent of the European flat plate need. This situation, which is maintained by these companies under foreign capital management and their activities, is the summary of the emphasis and destruction on our forests with the excuse of 'employment'. For the sake of this rent, the previously existing capacity limitation for the establishment of such facilities has been removed. The boastful rhetoric 'Our goal is to increase the revenue obtained from mdf production in 2021 by 5 times in 2023' reveals that the destruction will continue at an accelerated pace.”
“NO AGENDA LIKE PREPARING FOR FIRES”
Dursun said, “It is clear that there is no agenda to prepare for fires. Here, I do not mention much about the destructions made on the basis of many reasons such as the so-called 'public benefit', the use of forest areas for other purposes such as tourism, construction, leading to the energy sector, and for security reasons; because it's all happening right before our eyes. Fire fighting aircraft and similar equipments are fire fighting vehicles. However, the main thing is that protective measures must be taken first.”