A wildfire has ravaged 66 kilometres of land in southeastern Turkey, leaving behind a path of destruction on Thursday and Friday. Villagers in the affected Kurdish-majority areas have voiced their anger over the delayed response from emergency services.
Local Kurdish villagers stated that sparks from power lines, neglected by the local electricity company DEDAŞ despite their repeated warnings, ignited the fire. They asserted that it could have been contained if officials had acted sooner and maintained the lines.
Hasan Abi, who witnessed the fire’s inception, described a fierce storm causing power lines to clash, triggering a blaze that rapidly engulfed nearby vegetation. “If they had extinguished the fire yesterday, so many lives wouldn’t have been lost,” he lamented.
Opposition figures, including Melis Tantan, spokeswoman for the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party’s Ecology and Agriculture Commission, heavily criticised the delayed response. Tantan condemned the lack of immediate action, particularly the failure to deploy night-vision helicopters, which she believes could have stopped the fire from spreading.
“This wasn’t fate or coincidence”, Tantan asserted, highlighting the role of converting agricultural land and DEDAŞ’s negligence in exacerbating such disasters. She called for increased preparedness, including readily available fire equipment and the deployment of night-vision helicopters and airplanes for large fires.
The fire’s devastation extends beyond the loss of life, with vast areas of farmland, olive groves, and natural habitats reduced to ashes.
It’s important to note that this isn’t an isolated incident nor specific to Turkey. Just last week, news emerged about a separate wildfire burning in Eastern Kurdistan (Iran) for over a week. There, over 200 hectares of Zagros forests have been ravaged by flames, with environmental activists suspecting arson and criticising the lack of government support.
This highlights a broader trend of wildfires threatening the vital ecosystems throughout Kurdish regions.
In a 2020 interview, environmental historian Zozan Pehlivan argued that environmental destruction, including wildfires, deforestation, displacement, and the transformation of socio-economic structures, has been a method of enforcing security measures on the Kurdish populace since the Ottoman era.
She specifically argued that recurring wildfires plaguing Northern Kurdistan (southeastern Turkey) are not accidental but rather a deliberate strategy employed by the Turkish state. Pehlivan called this strategy the “state’s ecological apparatus”, a form of environmental violence used to achieve political goals, specifically the depopulation and de-Kurdification of Northern Kurdistan.
According to her:
Forest fires are a tool for depopulation: The fires destroy grazing lands, forests used for firewood, and other resources, and limit villagers’ access to water. This makes it difficult for people to sustain their livelihoods and forces them to migrate.
Depopulation then weakens Kurdish identity: The targeted region is predominantly Kurdish. By displacing the Kurdish population, the state aims to weaken Kurdish identity and cultural presence in the region.
Fires are not a recent phenomenon: Pehlivan argues that using fires for strategic purposes is not new. However, the current methods are more systematic and widespread compared to historical practices.
Fires are part of a larger strategy: The use of fires is linked to other policies, such as dam construction and power cuts, that aim to make life difficult for villagers and encourage them to leave.
