Anger in Turkey grows over government’s handling of wildfires

People across Turkey are looking for answers as to how summer wildfires got so desperately out of control, after seven straight days of unusually ferocious fires that continue to blaze throughout the south and west of the country.

On a visit to inspect the damage in Marmaris over the weekend, Erdoğan caused bewilderment by throwing packets of Turkish tea from a moving bus at survivors, and a local AKP official sparked widespread anger by claiming that loan terms for rebuilding would be so generous that “others whose houses didn’t burn down might wish theirs had burned too”.

Turkey’s government-linked media watchdog released a statement on Tuesday warning television stations that continuous live coverage of the wildfires “demoralises the people” and could be punished.