Zaman: Forest fires in Turkey reveal massive corruption in the public administration of forests

Ankara-Sana

At a time when forest fires are raging in Turkey and the Turkish regime's failure to control them and its appeal to friendly countries to help extinguish and control them, an official report reveals the extent of rampant corruption in the budget allocated for this purpose, and that what was spent from it does not exceed 1.75 percent.

In an official report of the General Administration of Forests, revealed by the Turkish newspaper Zaman today, it was found that the proportion of spending from the budget allocated to extinguishing forest fires, raising readiness and purchasing special equipment to deal with them did not exceed, at best, 1.75 percent, equivalent to 3.4 million Turkish liras out of 4.2 billion liras. Questions about the rest of the budget allocated in the first half of this year and why it was not fully spent on providing what is needed to tackle forest fires.

According to the report, despite the large budget allocated for this purpose, it was devoid of important items for allocating expenses to it, such as the maintenance of firefighting planes, which prompted a member of Parliament from the Republican People’s Party, Murad Amir, to present the issue before Parliament and to submit an interrogation note against the Minister of Agriculture and Forests, Bakr Bakdamerali.

He accused the Emir of the General Department of Forests of spoiling the Turkish Aviation Authority's planes in storage, and revealed that the budget allocated by the Department for the purchase of 26 firefighting helicopters did not exceed 1,000 Turkish liras.

The opposition in Turkey criticizes the government's delay in controlling the fires, which caused an increase in losses, and the fires caused huge material losses and lives, especially with the lack of firefighting planes.

The Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, appealed for a distress call to help put out and control the raging family fires in seven Turkish states, to which Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu replied, addressing the head of the Turkish regime: “I wish you had bought firefighting planes instead of your own planes.” He said: “Erdogan bought 13 planes.” private for himself but he could have bought one plane for himself and bought 12 more firefighting planes to put out the fires //

He accused Erdogan's regime of "failure and weakness in the face of fires, as if this is the first time that such fires have occurred."

Turkish citizens also launched a global appeal entitled "Help Turkey" on social media, asking for help from European countries to respond to the forest fires.

Helicopters from Russia and Ukraine are participating in extinguishing 1,140 burning points, while the fires have so far left 6 dead, dozens injured and great material damage.