Public planting 11M trees for greener Turkey: President

By Burak Bir

ANKARA (AA) - By planting millions of young trees, the nation is working to foster a new lush green Turkey, said the nation’s president on Monday.

The public is planting 11 million saplings today, Nov. 11 at 11.11 a.m. local time (0811GMT), in the hope of breath for the future in a greener Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a mass tree-planting ceremony in the capital Ankara.

"By planting 4.5 billion saplings over the last 17 years, the breadth of Turkey’s forests has expanded from 20.8 million hectares to 22.6 million,” he added, referring to the tenure of his ruling Justice and Development (AK) party.

Erdogan said that he hopes such planting ceremonies on 11-11 at 11.11 a.m. will become an annual event for the Turkish public, something made possible by his declaration of a yearly National Forestation Day on today’s date.

Turkey’s Agriculture and Forestry Ministry launched the Breath for the Future campaign in late October.

The ministry will plant the saplings on behalf of people who adopted them online. So far, 13 million trees have been adopted.

Besides the government, a number of NGOs have also joined the drive.