OREANDA-NEWS  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced his desire to buy planes from Russia to extinguish forest fires, TASS reports.

At a press conference in Istanbul, Erdogan said that fires broke out on July 16 in the Turkish provinces of Mugla, Mersin and Canakkale. He noted that he had held talks with the Minister of Internal Affairs and the Minister of Forestry, most of the fires were brought under control.

According to the Turkish president, Turkish planes and helicopters are currently fighting fires. At the same time, the country wants to purchase fire fighting equipment from Russia in addition to the existing ones.

Earlier it was reported that Erdogan planned to discuss with Russian President Vladimir Putin the purchase of amphibious aircraft effective for extinguishing forest fires from Russia.

In the summer of 2022, Turkey was engulfed by large-scale forest fires. They took place in the tourist port city of Marmaris in the south-west of the country, as well as in Antalya, located in southern Turkey. Erdogan expressed support for the initiative to introduce the death penalty for setting fire to the forest.