The wildfires have destroyed huge swathes of pristine forests and forced the evacuation of panicked tourists from their hotels.
Wildfires raging across the resort regions of Turkey’s Mediterranean and Aegean coasts for over a week prompted the European Union to send help to Turkey on Monday.
Meanwhile, volunteers have joined firefighters in battling the fires that have taken a toll of eight lives.
Firefighters are also battling local blazes on the Greek island of Rhodes in the Aegean as well as parts of Italy and Spain.
The European Union said it “stands in full solidarity with Turkey at this very difficult time”.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu thanked Brussels on Monday for sending a plane from Croatia and two from Spain. The government had earlier said it had no firefighting planes and had to rely on foreign help to battle the flames.
Turkish leader Erdogan has come under strong criticism over his seemingly sluggish and out-of-touch response.
Erdogan’s office at first blamed the worst fires in Turkey in at least a decade on arsonists that pro-government media linked to outlawed Kurdish militants. But that theory appeared to vanish soon enough.
Turkey’s forestry directorate said 105 fires had been recorded in 35 towns and cities across the country since Wednesday. And seven still continued to burn.
The wildfires have destroyed huge swathes of pristine forests and forced the evacuation of panicked tourists from their hotels.
Fanned by soaring temperatures and strong winds — with experts saying that climate change increases both the frequency and intensity of such blazes — EU data show this year’s fire season has been significantly more destructive than most.
Turkey’s forestry directorate said 105 fires had been recorded in 35 towns and cities across the country since Wednesday. And seven still continued to burn.
Weather services have warned locals of poor air quality, and volunteers spent sleepless nights helping fatigued firefighters save lush forests from the devastation that experts say may take generations to restore.
Emergency rescue boats were standing by along the Marmaris shoreline to evacuate anyone should the fires spread and the town be cut off.
