Turkey appealed for international help as it battled some of the worst wildfires in the country in decades, after hundreds of tourists fled by boat from apocalyptic scenes that have killed at least eight people along the Adriatic coast.
Record high temperatures are expected in southeastern Europe later this week, which authorities in the region have warned would keep the threat of additional fires in place for weeks.
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Turkey has cut its previously robust stock of firefighting planes, leading to the request for assistance from countries like Spain, Italy, Croatia and Azerbaijan.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited the scene of some of the worst fires in Marmaris, delivering boxes of tea from his vehicle to victims.
Italy and Greece have also been badly hit by fires that at one point effectively cut Greece in half after hitting a major highway, but Turkey has seen the most dramatic scenes as wildfires burning out of control trapped hundreds of tourists along the coast, forcing evacuations by boat, laying waste to pristine environmental preserve, and drawing criticism directed at the Turkish government for a perceived lack of response.
After almost a week of refusing aid from Greece and Cyprus, Turkey agreed on Sunday to accept two firefighting planes from Spain and one from Croatia as part of an EU assistance program. Turkey, which has no operational firefighting planes at the moment, – once had a robust fleet of firefighting planes of its own, even sending two to help Israel as it battled a historically-large blaze in 2010. The planes were decommissioned in 2018 because of budget cuts, according to the Turkish media.
Greek officials warned that records were likely to be set Tuesday or Wednesday with temperatures likely to hit a European record at 44 degrees celsius (or 111 degrees Fahrenheit), and that the threat of the fires, which continue to burn around Athens’ northernmost suburbs, would continue until the post-summer rainy season.
While it is difficult to tie individual weather patterns or natural disasters to the climate crisis, scientists say extreme weather events such as wildfires will increase in number and intensity due to global warming.
