Authorities have arrested a man suspected of setting fire to a forest in Marmaris, southwestern Turkey, where firefighters are fighting by land and air to contain the blaze.
According to Interior Minister Suleiman Soilou, a man has been arrested on suspicion of being responsible for the fire, which started at around 8pm on Tuesday night. The suspect allegedly admitted that he burned the forest because he was angry about a family issue.
The minister said that the detainee set fire to the forest while he was drunk, after a dispute with his relatives for financial reasons. “Two barrels of oil were also found at the site,” he added.
Earlier, Forest Minister Vahit Kiriski said he was optimistic the situation would improve today, as humidity had risen and winds had stopped. However, the municipality of Mugla said that the intensity of the wind is expected to increase.
45 helicopters and 12 planes are involved in the effort to extinguish the fire.
The attempt to take responsibility in Greece was thwarted
It is worth noting that before the arrest of the suspect, the retired Admiral, architect of the Turkish-Libyan memorandum Jihad Yaici, tried to take responsibility for the fires in Greece.
As he stated in his statements to the Turkish media, “Greece’s cooperation with terrorism, which is reflected even in the rhetoric of the Greek MPs, appears in our forests in the summer of 2022. It is important to be vigilant against this dark alliance, which “It is making great efforts to push Turkey into chaos, unrest and confusion.”
According to him, “the PKK-FETO-GREEK consortium (!) Started burning our forests this summer in order to generate income from tourism, agriculture and animal husbandry, to cause internal unrest in society and to undermine the state power”.