Firefighters battled blazes across Turkey on Monday as the country sweltered in a summer heatwave across much of the Mediterranean, with wildfires leading to at least 14 deaths in the country in the past week.

Wildfires have engulfed Turkey for weeks, threatening Bursa, the country’s fourth-largest city and forcing over 1,700 people to flee.

Greece and Turkey continue to battle major wildfires amid a severe heatwave. Temperatures reached 42.4C in central Greece at the weekend, with emergency services battling fires in the Peloponnese area of Athens and on the popular tourist islands of Kytheria and Crete.

Wildfires driven by searing temperatures and strong winds ravaged Turkey and parts of Greece in recent days, leaving four people dead and forcing hundreds of residents and tourists to flee the flames.

In neighbouring Bulgaria, emergency services fought more than 160 wildfires across the country on Monday. Greece also struggled to clear up after a week of forest fires and Spanish planes went to help Portuguese firefighters tackling a blaze on a remote mountain.

Mr Yumaklı said Turkey broken an all-time temperature record on Friday of 50.5C in the southeastern Sirnak. Information published by the country’s General Directorate of Meteorology suggested that temperatures would rise by another 10 degrees, starting Saturday. The highest temperatures for July were seen in 132 other locations.

Heavy rains swept across northeastern Romania overnight into Monday, causing flash floods that killed at least one person and forced hundreds to flee, as neighbouring Turkey and Albania continued to deal with widespread wildfires amid extreme summer conditions.