Climate change intensifying Med region disasters

Wildfires have raged in Turkey for over 12 days as a protracted heatwave turned forests into tinderboxes and flames threatened populated areas, electricity installations and historic sites. The blazes, described as Turkey's worst in living memory, have so far killed eight people, including a volunteer who was carrying drinking water and other refreshments to firefighters in Marmaris. The fires have also killed countless animals, destroyed acres of forests near the most popular tourist destinations, and forced thousands of evacuations.

In neighboring Greece, plumes of smoke and ash blocked out the sun above the country's second-largest island and turned the sky orange as fires devoured pristine forests and triggered more evacuation alerts Sunday, while residents appealed for additional firefighting help.

Professor Levent Kurnaz, a climate scientist at Istanbul's Bogazici University told the Associated Press that climate change intensifies the natural disasters that have plagued the region. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government has come under intense criticism over an allegedly slow response to the blazes and inadequate preparedness for large-scale wildfires.

The government acknowledged that the country did not have a usable fleet of water-dropping planes. Some volunteers joined the firefighting efforts out of frustration at the government's apparent inadequate response. Ahmet Bilgin, a 52-year-old actor, joined the relief efforts at Milas from Istanbul.

Bilgin told to the Associated Press that he believes the wildfires that have plagued the region are a global issue and called on states around the world to intervene. Authorities have launched investigations into the cause of the fires, including possible sabotage by Kurdish militants.

A 16-year-old was detained on Tuesday in connection to a blaze that started in Antalya's Manavgat region on Wednesday, pro-government Sabah newspaper reported. A heat wave across southern Europe, fed by hot air from North Africa, has led to wildfires across the Mediterranean, including in Italy and Greece.

Greek and European officials have blamed climate change for the multiple fires burning through swathes of southern Europe, from southern Italy to the Balkans, Greece and Turkey. Massive fires have been burning across Siberia in the north of Russia for weeks. In all, wildfires have burned nearly 15 million acres this year in Russia. In the U.S hot, bone-dry, gusty weather has also fuelled devastating wildfires in California, decimating whole towns in some cases.