The Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry reported that on the night of July 17, a forest fire erupted in Gülnar, a village about 40 kilometers from the Akkuyu nuclear power plant site in Mersin Province, in the country’s south. The information was relayed by DEA News.
In an official update, the ministry noted that the Gülnar fire was being fought continuously by firefighters and night-flying helicopters, with operations ongoing to bring the blaze under control.
Earlier, reports indicated that residents in a district of Hatay Province, which borders Syria, were forced to evacuate due to the widespread forest fire affecting the region.
Agriculture and Forestry Minister İbrahim Yumaklı confirmed that the firefighting effort in the Belén area involved nine aircraft, 21 helicopters, 59 ground vehicles, and 375 rescuers, stressing that suppression operations continued uninterrupted from both air and ground sources.
TRT News reported that the smoke from this fire cast a haze over Antakya, a city roughly 40 kilometers from Belén, illustrating the fire’s reach in the region.
Images from the scene, including burned vehicles on the Plevako embankment, underscored the severity of the situation as responders pressed to contain multiple hotspots.
Authorities are monitoring the situation closely as weather and wind conditions influence containment efforts, and residents in nearby communities remain on alert for possible new evacuations. The rapid mobilization of aerial and ground resources highlights the country’s preparedness to respond to large-scale wildfires that threaten habitats, property, and public safety. (Source attribution: TRT News, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry statements, and DEA News reporting.)