According to recent reports from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Türkiye became among the countries with the most afforestation in Europe as it ranks first in Europe and fourth in the world, while the country ranks 27th in the category of nations with the most forest assets according to their surface area.

Chamber of Forestry Engineers Chairperson Hasan Türkyılmaz stated that an area the size of Marmara Island was forested after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared the "National Afforestation Mobilization."

Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), Türkyılmaz detailed the forestry activities on the occasion of Forest Week.

Reiterating that forests in Türkiye are protected by a constitutional provision, Türkyılmaz pointed out that there is no such protective provision in any country in the world.

He further added that the forest area, which was 20.2 million hectares 20 years ago, has exceeded 23 million hectares and said, "29.8 of Türkiye's surface area is covered with forest cover."

Pointing out that it is not possible to use the areas lost in the fire for purposes other than forestation, Türkyılmaz emphasized that the biggest fire disaster of recent years occurred in 2021 and not even a square meter of the burned areas were opened for construction at that time.

Providing information about the latest situation of the areas damaged by the fire, Türkyılmaz said, "Those who go there will see that the field has been cleared, saplings have been planted, and some of them will see the green cover formed by the growth of the seeds and saplings planted."

Likewise, in Bolu's Göynük district, 269,000 saplings have been planted gradually to date, within the scope of the work initiated in the region following a fire that broke out in the forested area seven years ago, Mahmut Şentürk, the regional director of forestry said.

"Some 250 hectares of forest area were damaged in the fire and the teams were carrying out afforestation work in the entire area without leaving even an inch of land empty. The fire lasted for three days and could be extinguished with difficulty. After the fire was extinguished, afforestation activities were started here. Eleven thousand fruit-bearing saplings were planted especially for the creatures living in the area. In addition, 258,000 pine saplings were planted and a total of 269,000 saplings were planted in this area. In addition, 500 kilograms of red pine seeds were planted in the area as a supplement," Şentürk said.

Pointing out that some locals wanted olive trees planted instead of red pine in the burned areas, Türkyılmaz said, "The burned areas need to be reforested with the same tree species. It is not right to replace the trees with anything other than the existing species. Red pine is the tree species with the biology most suitable for reforestation culture after the fire."

Türkyılmaz also stated that the forest organization has a human resource deficit and said: "Our workers, civil servants and engineers working in the forestry organization are obliged to work 24 hours a day, but there is no human resources support to work in shifts. The number of university graduates employed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry for the areas is 35,000, while the number of personnel of the General Directorate of Forestry, which manages the 30% forest area, is 6,000. It is impossible to manage this area with such a small number of people. Therefore, in the fight against fires, production, protection, maintenance and development of forests, a three-shift system must be formed and around 20,000-25,000 human resources need to be added to the forestry organization, including workers, civil servants, engineers and office clerks."

Stating that they are prepared for the fire season, Şentürk said: "First of all, we trained our own colleagues on how to fight fires. Apart from this, we especially raised the awareness of our villagers about forest fires in the meetings we held from time to time."

Şentürk emphasized that not only trees burn in forest fires, but also nature and living creatures are damaged.

"We request that picnic fires should not be lit in the summer months when the weather conditions are extreme. In addition, we request that garden and brush fires are not burned without our permission, as they may spread to the forests. We would like to remind you that cigarette butts thrown on the roadside can also cause fires. We request our citizens to take the necessary precautions regarding this," he explained.