İzmir Wildfire: Minister of Forestry Says He Does Not Trust Turkish Aeronautical Association

Click to read the article in Turkish

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Bekir Pakdemirli has spoken about the debate on the fighting aircraft of the Turkish Aeronautical Association (THK). The lack of firefighting aircraft in the efforts to extinguish the fire in İzmir sparked debates as it was revealed that the contract with the THK was not renewed and the ministry assigned an architecture company for firefighting.

"I do not trust any of the certificates issued by the THK," Pakdemirli said, answering questions from reporters on the subject.

"We are bidding. My organization doesn't want to fly with it, period. These planes are not seen as safe. The topic is over. What is the largest fleet? Where are the 20 planes? There are no engines in the three planes. Like in the Vizontele movie. There is a political attack on our government. They can't do maintenance for themselves. This is like entrusting livers to the cat. Is that because we didn't give them 4 million euros this year? Our government is not responsible for THK's financial circumstances.

"THK planes are useless. We don't have to get them. THK has become a toy of politics. It is acting in tandem with the main opposition."

The fire started on August 18 in the western İzmir province was extinguished on August 20 after 600 acres of woodland was destroyed.

The late-coming intervention in the fires and the lack of firefighting aircraft caused criticism to the government, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the THK, and it was revealed that the ministry had tendered its agreement with THK on firefighting aircraft to another company last July.

An official from the THK, who did not want to be named, told bianet that they had six CL-215 firefighting planes, but the ministry said they could not currently use these aircraft because another company won the tender, hence the aircraft are kept idle.

"The ministry turned down our offer to help in the fire in Muğla. The company that received the tender does not have a firefighting aircraft in hand. We are always ready for the task," he said. (TP/VK)