Most of 11m trees planted in Turkish project 'may be dead'

Agriculture and forestry union says up to 90% of saplings they have looked at so far have died

Up to 90% of the millions of saplings planted in Turkey as part of a record-breaking mass planting project may have died after just a few months, according to the country's agriculture and forestry trade union.

On 11 November last year, which the government declared National Forestation Day, 11 million trees were planted by volunteers in more than 2,000 sites across the country, including by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip ErdoAan, and the parliament Speaker, Mustafa Aentop.