Your role in defeating Fires: Let’s listen to Özge Gürel’s voice!

Our fragile world doesn’t stop asking for help, and climate change continues to send its warnings, to launch its cry of pain, which humanity no longer has to turn away.

Floods, hydrogeological instability, melting glaciers, fires, territories eroded by desertification… these aren’t normal natural events, nor we can hide behind the alibi of a comforting coincidence. But there must be something we can do to defeat these natural conundrums.

Human exploitation is no more sustainable by our Mother Earth, which rebels with episodes always more devastating and unmanageable, near to the point of no return; we haven’t got other chances to save the delicate balance of numerous ecosystems which surround us.

Australia two years ago, was under fire tragedies, destroying 16 million hectares of forests and killing 3 billion animals (without quoting other ones that occurred in Amazon). In addition, new fires in the Italian regions of Sicily and Sardinia have brought local rural communities to their knees, sweeping away untouched and wonderful habitats and their defenceless creatures.

In this uninterrupted sequence, flames have been devouring the South of Turkey for at least five days.

The situation is theatrical: instead of verdant and flourishing woods and quiet villages, a bloody hot cloud envelops the space. The air is full of smoke and fine dust; the bright blue sky has been replaced by grey toxic fog.

More scourged areas are located near the cost, such as the famous destination of Bodrum, where many tourists, remained petrified in front of the infernal sight, have been evacuated by the sea; inhabitants are losing houses and certainties, the environment has become the desolation of charred trees and animals.

Apocalyptic images follow each other, and it is impossible to be indifferent to that and not to feel called to act, whatever your own potentialities are.

Once again, in the Turkish show business world context, the beautiful and brilliant actress Özge Gürel, one of the most precious and sensible souls of our times, famous worldwide for her clever roles like Nazli Pinar (“Dolunay”), Ezgi Inal (“Bay Yanlış”), Öykü Açar (“Kiraz Mevsimi”) and Nazlı (“Annem”), hasn’t hesitated to spread her sincere and prompt voice on social media about this topic.

On Twitter, Özge Gürel shows her anger towards those who have made even bigger the environmental catastrophe, hoping they will be punished soon.

Then, Özge publishes various stories on Instagram. She provides concrete details to give further economic and material help and thanks vets, firefighters, and volunteers engaged in this complex mission.

Moreover, she is among the first who have launched the “Global Call” campaign: addressing the main international organizations, like WWF, Unesco, United Nations Organization and the European Council, Özge Gürel invites foreign countries to help Turkey in this huge tragedy because her motherland hasn’t enough means to face a similar disaster.

Many of her colleagues have followed her shining example, sharing the message and supporting the cause with the hashtag #helpturkey.

Praises and proud thoughts to describe this incredible girl could be endless, but, in this case, Özge’s unmistakable personality speaks for itself: she is always at the forefront of environmental and humanitarian issues since social commitment is an essential part of her temperament, based on kindness and empathy.

Words aren’t needed: her captivating beauty without filters directly connects her authentic inner essence, capable of communicating concreteness and awareness; this is the real constructive example to follow.

Maybe Özge and her friends’ call has been heard; the world is mobilizing to help Turkey and its naturalistic patrimony: an international search and rescue team from Qatar has been sent in loco, while 220 people from Azerbaijan have come to sustain firefighters, with other 53 vehicles; the European Union has disposed of the sending of 3 Canadair to quell flames.

But the battle is not over yet: some fires (it has been talking about 132 burnings since the beginning) haven’t been turned off, and damages to the landscape are incalculable.

And humankind doesn’t stop hurting itself and its planet, the only home we have.

What is happening to our earth isn’t normality. Özge’s words can help us reflect on our everyday actions because each of us, in our own little routine, can make the difference from how we decide to throw rubbish to what we choose to eat.

She teaches us to reason with our heads, to express our own thinking, even if it could be inconvenient and doesn’t satisfy everyone.

Özge goes on posting calls from diverse charities, which assist in this fire emergency, to give visibility even to the smallest realities.

Probably, she is already carrying on another delicate question, against silence and respectability: in fact, in a recent tweet, she has sharply condemned the “monster” called Mustafa Murat Ayhan, who has barbarously murdered Azra Gülendam Haytaoğlu, a young journalism student girl in Antalya.

Özge Gürel continues to sow intellectual freedom and consciousness because no one has to give up on any violence…

And we hope her strength can lead us to focus on a diverse, renewed humanity, which has finally defeated injustices and inequalities, committing to preserve the natural and variegated beauty of the world with all its creatures.

Planet and society are waiting for our true drive for change.

Sources:

Australian fires. (n.d.). WWF Italian Site. https://www.wwf.it/pandanews/ambiente/emergenze/australia-un-anno-dopo-gli-incendi/

Current fires situations in Turkey. (n.d.). TRT. https://www.trt.net.tr/italiano/turchia/2021/08/02/ministro-cavusoglu-ringrazia-la-spagna-e-la-crozia-per-l-assistenza-fornita-alla-turchia-1684026

Foreign countries are helping Turkey to face fires. (n.d.). TRT. https://www.trt.net.tr/italiano/turchia/2021/08/02/diversi-paesi-offrono-aiuto-alla-turchia-per-domare-gli-incendi-boschivi-1683829