Sawt Falasteen - Turkey battles wildfires as heatwave grips Med

Around 20 villages have been evacuated, officials said, and more than 3,500 people forced to leave their homes.

"We are burning up, we don't even know where to go anymore," Asmin Gezginci, 24, said while returning from a park to her home in the Kurdish-majority southeastern city of Diyarbakir.

Temperatures had already soared to a record high of 50.5 degrees Celsius (123 Fahrenheit) on Friday in Silopi, two hours from Gezginci's home.

According to weather forecasts, the heatwave will continue this week with temperatures of 40C to 45C in the central Anatolia region and 45C to 50C forecast in the southeast on Tuesday.

On Monday, local authorities in Diyarbakir warned residents about temperatures "four to six degrees above seasonal norms until August 2".

In the city, the thermometer was already showing 45.4C at midday, an AFP journalist saw.

The heatwave has exacerbated forest fires on the dry ground that have spread rapidly in windy conditions.

Firefighters tackled blazes around Bursa in the northwest on Monday, the country's fourth-largest city and a major industrial centre, for the third consecutive day.

Their efforts were hampered by strong winds fanning the flames, according to Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli.

Some residents used tractors to transport water tanks, while television images showed others rushing toward the blazes with bottles of water in their hands.

- Response 'sometimes limited' -

But the intensity of a fire in Karabuk in the north has diminished, and a fire in Kahramanmaras in the south is now "under control", Yumakli said.

"Given the size and intensity of the fires, the state's ability to respond quickly to such disasters is sometimes limited," he acknowledged.

"If there is wind, there are no planes, and it takes hours, even days, for you to take control," he said.

In recent days, 19 villages had to be evacuated in the Safranbolu region in the north, and more than 3,500 people around Bursa.

In a televised speech after a weekly cabinet meeting, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said 96 percent of the fires were caused by human activity such as cigarette butts and picnic fires.

There were also a few cases of sabotage, he said.

"Let us not forget that this is a war, a defence of our green homeland, against this insidious enemy," Erdogan said.

"We are doing what is necessary, and we will continue to do so."

Last week, a wildfire killed at least 10 forest workers and rescuers fighting a blaze near Eskisehir in western Turkey.

A firefighter battling the flames died of a heart attack on Saturday.

Three more people died Sunday in an accident involving a water tanker truck that was used to battle a blaze, Bursa authorities said.

According to Erdogan, more than 3,000 fires have broken out since the beginning of summer, and authorities warn the situation will remain critical until October.

A UN report on desertification worldwide estimates that 88 percent of Turkey's territory is at risk: rainfall is expected to decrease 30 percent by the end of the century, while temperatures are expected to rise by 5C to 6C compared to the averages recorded between 1961 and 1990.

- New fire in Greece -

Across the Aegean Sea in Greece, where blazes have ravaged homes and sparked evacuations across the country this summer, firefighters worked Monday to contain outbreaks after bringing dozens under control over the weekend.

Even as the heat wave gripping the country began to ease, a new forest fire broke out near the university campus east of Athens, in the municipality of Zografou.

According to firefighters, 65 firefighters, 20 vehicles, seven helicopters and six planes were mobilised to contain the flames.

Greece has endured heatwave conditions for a week, with temperatures passing 40C in many areas.

And on the Iberian Peninsula, four Spanish planes joined more than 250 Portuguese firefighters battling a blaze Monday in an isolated mountain region near their border, authorities said.

The blaze in north Portugal's Viana do Castelo district was spreading in two directions and difficult to tackle because of the strong winds, civil protection chief Marco Domingues said.

One firefighter has been injured.

Authorities have put much of northern and southern Portugal on the highest alert for wildfires because of high temperatures and strong winds.

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M.Qasim--SF-PST