Turkey

For the second day in a row, Turkey cordoned off the Dardanelles Strait on Wednesday to allow firefighters to collect water to spread at wildfires near the tourist town of Canakkale. The Dardanelles Strait flows into the Aegean Sea and is the last station in Turkey for ships leaving the Black Sea. “It is better today than yesterday,” Agriculture Minister Ibrahim Yumakali told Turkish television. The Dardanelles Strait is a popular tourist area. Among other things, because it is here that the ruins of ancient Troy are to be found. The strait also handled former grain ships from Ukraine until Russia withdrew in July from an agreement on free navigation of grain from the two warring countries. /ritzau/