The Diplomat
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has thanked Spain on his Twitter account for its “solidarity and friendship” in sending three planes to fight the hundreds of fires raging in the country.
Çavuşoğlu, who spoke by phone with his Spanish colleague, José Manuel Albares, expressly expressed his gratitude for Spain’s contribution to try to put out the fires that, since last Wednesday, have affected the south and west of Anatolia and have so far caused eight deaths.
The Spanish Foreign Ministry said yesterday that the Spanish aid consists of two CL 415 firefighting planes and a C-295 transport plane from the Spanish Air Force, as well as a complete team from the Military Emergency Unit.
A statement added that the planes are part of the offer made on Sunday by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to show the country’s solidarity with the victims and the specialists who are fighting to extinguish the fires of what he described as a “terrible catastrophe”.
The planes are carrying 27 military personnel, including five members of the Emergency Military Unit (UME) and 22 crew members, to carry out ground liaison work.
According to the Ministry of Defence, the transport aircraft arrived yesterday afternoon at an airport in the Turkish province of Mugla, where several of the active fires are concentrated. The two seaplanes, which left Malaga, are also scheduled to arrive there today.
The Spanish embassy in Ankara has sent a diplomat to the town of Dalaman to receive the Spanish contingent and is closely monitoring the evolution of the fires. Together with the consulates in Istanbul and Antalya, it is keeping the consular emergency lines open in case it is necessary to provide assistance to any Spanish citizen.
