French President Emmanuel Macron thanked Türkiye on Tuesday after Ankara dispatched two firefighting aircraft to support France's battle against devastating wildfires, responding in Turkish with a message reading, "Teşekkürler Türkiye," which means "Thank you, Türkiye."
Macron shared the message on X while quoting Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumaklı's announcement that Türkiye had sent the aircraft following a request for assistance from France.
Yumaklı said the deployment came under the instructions of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, adding that it followed Türkiye's decision to send two firefighting aircraft to Spain as wildfires continue to sweep across parts of Europe.
In his statement, Yumaklı said, "With its capabilities and experience, Türkiye is fulfilling its responsibility not only to protect its own forests but also to assist in protecting the forests of other countries whenever needed."
The minister wished success to the flight crews and emergency teams working on the ground, emphasizing that international solidarity remains essential in responding to increasingly severe wildfires.
Macron expressed his gratitude after the swift response, which came at France's direct request, highlighting Türkiye's regional solidarity and its capacity to assist in combating Europe's escalating natural disasters.
The Turkish aircraft have joined the firefighting efforts in southwestern France, where more than 13,500 wildfires have burned over 116,000 hectares (286,642 acres) since the beginning of the year an area nearly four times the size of Paris marking the highest annual total in modern French records, meanwhile more than 42,000 hectares have been destroyed in the southern Gironde region over the past week, while major fires in Gironde, Var, Landes and Haute-Corse remain out of control.
These unprecedented blazes have been fueled by severe drought and extreme weather conditions following the country's hottest June on record, during which average temperatures were 3.8 degrees Celsius (38.8 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal and rainfall dropped by 50%.
The prolonged heat wave has severely dried out vegetation across the region, creating vast amounts of highly combustible fuel that have enabled the fires to spread rapidly and burn with exceptional intensity. Emergency crews fear the situation could deteriorate further as temperatures are expected to rise again later this week.
