Wildfires caused by Turkish military forces partaking in operations against the PKK rage across Northern Kurdistan territory.

More fires erupted on Tuesday in the countryside of Dersim province, near the Dokuzkayalar village of Nazimiye district, Uzuntarla village in Pülümür, Hakis region and near Geyiksuyu village.

The rural areas of Dersim province are bombed by Armed Unmanned Aerial Vehicles since July, in addition to the mortar attacks launched from outposts and shelling by Cobra type helicopters.

The fire in the widely forested area near Dokuzkayalar village is spreading to a larger area because local people are prevented from stopping the fire from spreading for “security” reasons.

Dokuzkayalar Village Association Chairperson Hüseyin Aygül stated that another fire has been started near their village while a former one had just died down itself after 10 days.

Aygül said the fire is spreading to private property area, adding: “Our lands, fruit trees and private property areas are on fire. Our properties are burning in front of our eyes but no intervention is being made. One fire dies down and another starts. What will these deliberate fires help?”

OVER 100 WILDFIRES IN 20 AREAS OF DERSİM

The wildfires caused by increasingly ongoing military operations in Dersim territory are not mentioned in the list of “Forest Fires” published on the official website of Turkish General Directorate of Forestry.

On the other hand, Dersim’s Provincial Directorate of Forestry did not dispatch crew to the areas of “forest fires of unknown origin”.

Basing on their compiled data, environmentalist activist Haydar Çetinkaya stated that more than 100 cases of forest fire took place in at least 20 various regions of Dersim during the year of 2017. He said an area of over 800 hectares is guessed to have suffered damage from these fires.