‘Greener Turkey’ campaign to be launched on March 21

By Zehra Aydın Turapoglu

ANKARA (AA) - A letter written by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be sent to 23 million households by Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs, as part of the new afforestation campaign.

“We will launch a new afforestation campaign with the slogan of 'let's build together a greener Turkey' with an event at Bestepe National Congress and Culture Center in Ankara on March 21, the International Day of Forests," the country’s Forestry and Water Minister Veysel Eroglu told Anadolu Agency.

Erdogan will attend the program and send the first letter by mail.

"On my first day in the ministry, Erdogan gave me an instruction to launch afforestation campaign in all around the world. We planted more than 2 billion saplings as part of the afforestation activities initiated in 2007," Eroglu said.

The minister said the number of sapling reached 4 billion in 2011 and last year 300 million more saplings were planted.

Eroglu highlighted that forest assets are declining in many countries but they are increasing in Turkey.

As part of the campaign, a seed along with the Erdogan’s letter and a leaflet containing investment made by the ministry in the country will be sent to 23 million households.