Istanbul-listed CVK Maden (CVKMD) halted activities at its chrome mine in the town of Harmancik in Turkey’s northwestern province of Bursa due to ongoing wildfires, the company said on July 28.
The minefield and three wells have suffered fire damage, it added. The final damage assessment will be conducted after the wildfires have been brought under control.
Company personnel join fight against fires
CVK personnel, as well as equipment and machinery from the mine, were assigned to the local forestry administration, under which they joined firefighting efforts.
The company's mine also suffered fire damage in August 2024. However, the cause of the incident remains unknown. There was no wildfire at the time that a fire erupted within the minefield. Control of the situation was quickly established before the damage got beyond minor.
The mine, launched as far back as 1955, covers a 6.3-hectare licensed area. There are 10 wells. CVK estimates the total chrome and magnesite reserves in its Harmancik mine at 5.73mn tonnes, making it the company’s largest such resource.
Bursa fires blazing for a fourth day
As of July 29, the wildfires in Bursa province, which ignited on July 26, were still blazing for a fourth day.
The city of Bursa is Turkey’s fourth largest city, with a population of more than 3mn. Located south of the Marmara Sea, it boasts an industrial zone with giant automotive and textile plants.
Wildfires a new normal for Turkey
Wildfires across Turkey are still burning. In recent years, the sight of forests ablaze across the country has become commonplace.
Each day, the agriculture and forestry minister gives a briefing on wildfires brought under control.
This year, the wildfires began on June 29. So far, at least 17 people have lost their lives in the disaster.
In public discussion, suspicions over the role of inadequate electricity grids or arsonists in igniting fires linger, while observers note an insufficient number of firefighting aircraft and the lack of a countrywide firefighting plan.
Sceptics note how good Turkey’s government is at public relations in the news space (successes are regularly announced in the drone, defence and energy exploration industries, among others), while at the same time having little to say on how it is that Turks are so often left to deal with natural disasters, such as earthquakes and wildfires, with their bare hands all on their own.
Finger now pointed at Gulenists, not PKK
In previous years during the wildfire season, alleged members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have been "detained" for committing arson to set forests alight.
In February, the PKK joined a collaboration that supports the ruling coalition in Turkey. From time to time, the PKK fights against the coalition. And, then it rejoins the apparatus that supports it. These about-turns create complications when it comes ot the regime’s propaganda. It is only when the PKK is fighting against the coalition that the regime’s trolls are active accusing the PKK of arson attacks on the forests. When the PKK is aligned as an ally, the fires break out anyway.
Currently, the regime is actually defending the PKK against allegations of arson. On July 3, the Directorate of Communications Control Centre for Countering Disinformation (DMM, @dmmiletisim) said that claims suggesting the PKK set fire to some forests were incorrect.
This year, headlines in government media indicated that an anti-government Gulenist had been detained for igniting a fire in a Bursa forest. Read the story closely right to the end and it becomes apparent that the perpetrator in question attempted to set his village on fire (he's not on good terms with his fellow villagers) at a time when forest wildfires in the vicinity were already raging.
It is a rare thing, of course, for a reader to reach the end of a news article. Nowadays, only the headlines put into circulation are important as most people don't get far beyond them.