Erdoğan: They were late in responding to the fire, those who need to be held accountable are the local administrations.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made statements after the Presidential Cabinet Meeting held in Ahlat district of Bitlis. President Erdogan criticized the CHP municipalities for engaging in politics instead of doing their job, even in the case of forest fires.

President Erdogan visited Ahlat and Malazgirt as part of the 953rd anniversary of the Battle of Malazgirt and held his cabinet meeting at Ahlat Presidential Complex. The meeting lasted for 2 hours and 20 minutes.

Highlights from President Erdogan's statements:

"With our historic Cabinet Meeting held outside of Ankara for the first time in 21 years, we have shown the importance we give to Ahlat and Malazgirt.

We have the strongest Green Homeland army in our history with 27 aircraft, 105 helicopters, and more than 5,000 land vehicles in our fleet.

They were late in responding to the fire, and the local administrations are the ones who should be held accountable. Opposition municipalities are more interested in engaging in politics rather than doing their job, even in the case of a fire. There is no acceptable aspect to this.

There is no party for fires, earthquakes, or natural disasters. We expect the opposition to abandon this distorted perspective of politicizing every issue as soon as possible.

Let's continue to be cautious until September 15, when the heat will continue to affect us. Let's show sensitivity regarding human-caused forest fires, which account for 90% of them."