Strong winds fanned the wildfires, helping them spread in hot dry weather, local officials said. Efforts to extinguish the blazes from "both the air and ground" were ongoing, Canakkale's provincial governor - quoted in Turkiye Today - said on Friday.

Turkey on Friday closed the Dardanelles strait to shipping due to forest fires in the area. A statement provided to The National by Turkey's Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure said ship traffic in the Dardanelles had been "temporarily suspended in both directions due to the fires in Canakkale.

Wildfires have closed Turkey’s Dardanelles Strait. Together with the Sea of Marmara and Bosporus Strait, the Dardanelles allow passage to maritime traffic sailing to and from the Black Sea. The Turkish transport ministry said on August 8 that the major international waterway was shut as a precautionary measure as raging forest fires fanned by