CHP's Günaydın questions Minister Yumaklı on 'forest fires': 'Have you prepared an Emergency Action Plan?'

CHP Group Deputy Chairman Gökhan Günaydın has submitted a parliamentary question to the Office of the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) for Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı to answer regarding forest fires.

Günaydın recalled that 15 citizens lost their lives in the fire that began on June 20, 2024, in the Çınar district of Diyarbakır and affected villages in the Mazıdağı district of Mardin.

Pointing out that the delayed response increased the losses, CHP's Günaydın stated the following:

''According to the statement you made as the Ministry, as a result of the fire, a total of 7,900 decares of land in Diyarbakır were affected, including 1,111 decares of unharvested fields and 6,789 decares of stubble fields, while in Mardin, a total of 7,000 decares of land were affected, including 4,000 decares of unharvested fields and 3,000 decares of stubble fields. While many animals in this area perished, the agricultural systems and equipment belonging to farmers in the area suffered heavy damage. Although there were claims in the press that the fire started due to 'stubble burning,' the preliminary expert report prepared within the scope of the investigation launched by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office revealed that the fire was caused by downed power lines. On June 30, fires broke out in a total of 16 locations in the Selçuk and Menderes districts of İzmir, 8 of which were in forests and 8 in rural areas; across the country, a total of 44 fires broke out, 30 in rural areas and 14 in forested areas. Again, according to official data, a total of 1,120 fires broke out in Turkey's rural areas in June. The agricultural sector and our farmers are the most affected by these fires.”

Recalling that 200,125 hectares of forest burned in 13,619 forest fires between 2019 and 2023, Günaydın expressed the following:

''According to the data of the General Directorate of Forestry, while 84 forest fires were recorded in the same period last year, the number has increased approximately fivefold this year to reach 399. While 41 hectares of forest area were damaged due to fires last year, this figure was recorded as 2,548 hectares this year. Most importantly, while it was announced that there were fires in 155 non-forest locations between June 1-21 last year, this number rose to 551 this year. However, despite this, a comprehensive fire analysis has still not been conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Article 169 of the Constitution states, 'New forests shall be grown in place of burned forests, and no other type of agriculture or animal husbandry shall be practiced in these places. No reduction shall be made in forest boundaries.' Despite this mandatory provision of the Constitution, it does not seem possible to access official records regarding how much of the burned forests have been opened for zoning, how much has been turned into mining sites, or how much has been reforested.”

"WHAT HAS BEEN THE IMPACT ON THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR AND PRODUCER FARMERS?"

CHP's Günaydın directed the following questions to Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı regarding forest fires:

• What has been the impact of the forest fires experienced in the last five years on the agricultural sector and producer farmers? Has your Ministry conducted a study in this context? Which residences and hotels have been built on forest lands that burned between 2002-2023 and from 2024 to date, and which ones have been granted mining operation licenses? Do you intend to publish the post-fire photographs of the forests that burned between 2002-2023 and from 2024 to date alongside current aerial photographs of the same locations? If there are settlements, residences, hotels, holiday villages, or mining sites in these forest areas, to whom does their ownership belong?

• What is the amount of forest area that has burned between 2002-2023 and from 2024 to date? How much of this has been reforested? Why are statistics on forest fires by year and province not being published? What are the categorical causes of forest fires that have occurred between 2002-2023 and from 2024 to date? Do you intend to conduct a fire analysis as a Ministry? Have you prepared an Emergency Action Plan regarding forest fires?

• What urgent measures will you take to prevent new fires? Especially in the months of June, July, and August, what concrete measures does your Ministry have to warn citizens and encourage them to be more careful? Apart from existing measures, does your Ministry have any work on issues such as sending fire warnings to mobile phones in regions with high fire risk; making announcements from mosques in villages in rural areas; maintaining power transmission lines and clearing dry grass underneath them; and increasing inspections under critical meteorological conditions with the contributions of the Gendarmerie General Command and the General Directorate of Security?

• Have you taken special precautions regarding forests that have not experienced fires in previous years, which are dense and have maquis vegetation underneath, especially in Muğla, Aydın, and Antalya? Does your Ministry have any work on deploying fire trucks in risky areas 24/7, having helicopters constantly patrolling the air, raising public awareness, and creating evacuation plans?

• Which aerial intervention methods were used in the fires that broke out throughout June? How many minutes after the fire did the vehicles used reach the region? What is the number of helicopters used in aerial intervention? Considering the cost of the fire, do you think this number is sufficient?

• Is it true that although you announced that 58 new fire extinguishing pools and ponds would be built nationwide as a Ministry, you canceled the tenders for their construction due to austerity measures? If true, how many tenders have you canceled to date?