Greece thanks Türkiye for help in tackling wildfires

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - The Greek prime minister on Saturday thanked Türkiye for assistance, as it struggles with raging wildfires since Monday.

"Our gratitude goes out to Türkiye for sending two firefighting planes and one helicopter to assist us in our fight against forest fires. Thank you Türkiye!," Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Twitter.

Earlier, the Greek Foreign Ministry also thanked Ankara over the assistance, saying: "Thank you #Türkiye for your readiness to provide firefighting support&assist #Greece in tackling severe wildfires."

Two amphibious firefighting aircraft and a firefighting helicopter, that departed from Türkiye, arrived in Greece early Saturday.

Firefighters have tried to control the fire that broke out in the wider Athens area, gutting houses and forcing evacuations.