Türkiye marked National Afforestation Day on Nov. 11 with a “double record,” according to Agriculture and Forestry Minister İbrahim Yumaklı.
The ministry reported that 1,280,491 citizens participated in planting events held at 1,391 locations nationwide, where 14,914,000 saplings were planted into the soil.
“We broke both the participation and sapling-planting records,” Yumaklı said.
Now in its seventh year, National Afforestation Day was first designated in 2019 by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Alongside the main ceremony attended by Erdoğan in the capital Ankara, sapling-planting events were organized across all 81 provinces and 922 districts.
Yumaklı noted that activities will continue for a year under the “Green Homeland Mobilization,” an initiative aimed at expanding Türkiye’s forest cover, calling Nov. 11 the campaign’s most significant day.
“With the President’s instruction, we have raised our target from 550 million to 600 million saplings. Our nation will continue to set new records and inspire the world in its love for forests," he added.
