İsmail Üzmez

The number of the endangered Anatolian mountain sheep has surpassed 1,000 from 30 thanks to the timely efforts ongoing for nearly a half-century, an expert has said in a ceremony where the young animals were released to nature.

Amid a sweltering heatwave in Turkey, forest fires in the country's western and southern coasts have been ongoing over the past three days, with hundreds of hectares of forest land already burnt to ashes.

Around 800 hectares of forest land were burned to ashes as the fire in the Menderes district of the Aegean province of İzmir continued to rage on its third day on July 3.

A forest fire that broke out on July 1 in the Menderes district of the Aegean province of İzmir has raged for a second day, with authorities struggling to get the flames under control amid shifting winds. Over 500 hectares of forest land have been damaged, according to the head of the forestry general directorate İsmail Üzmez.