Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya has announced that 23 people have been detained in connection with dozens of wildfires that broke out across the country this month, with four of them arrested and 19 put under judicial supervision.
The detentions stem from 61 wildfires that erupted between July 4 and 22, Yerlikaya said in a post on X on Wednesday.
04-22 Temmuz 2025 tarihleri arasında meydana gelen 61 orman yangını ile ilgili Jandarmamız tarafından;
🔻23 şüpheli şahıs gözaltına alındı. Bunların 4’ü tutuklandı; 19’u hakkında adli kontrol kararı verildi.
🟥 Eskişehir-Seyitgazi Bardakçı Mahallesinde; 4 Temmuz’da başlayıp…
— Ali Yerlikaya (@AliYerlikaya) July 23, 2025
According to the minister, many of the fires were caused by negligence or sparks from agricultural equipment such as combine harvesters. Fires in the western provinces of Balıkesir, Uşak and Manisa were linked to farming activities, while one in Konya’s Doğanhisar district reportedly started after a man lit a fire to make tea. Another fire in the eastern province of Tunceli was attributed to a candle placed on dry grass at a gravesite.
Arrests were made in Hatay, Manisa, Balıkesir and Bilecik.
Yerlikaya urged the public to be especially cautious during the hot summer months.
Fires continue to rage across western and northern Turkey
Yerlikaya’s remarks came as wildfires continued to burn across parts of western and northern Turkey, prompting evacuations and large-scale firefighting operations.
Firefighting teams are battling multiple blazes across several provinces, with evacuations ordered in some areas. While fires in parts of Sakarya and İzmir have been brought under control, others continue to burn in Eskişehir, Afyonkarahisar and Karabük provinces. Local authorities have deployed air and ground units, and officials cite wind and smoke as complicating firefighting efforts.
Turkey, which was spared the recent heatwaves that gripped the rest of southern Europe, has been battling the effects of a long-term drought brought on by climate change.
In early July an elderly man and a forestry worker died in wildfires in the western province of İzmir.
Temperatures in parts of Turkey are expected to climb to between 40 and 45 degrees Celsius (104 to 113 Fahrenheit) this week. The Agriculture Ministry has urged the public to avoid any activity that could spark new fires during the extreme heat.
Experts say human-driven climate change is causing more frequent and more intense wildfires and other natural disasters and have warned Turkey to take measures to tackle the problem.