Turkey power cut: Prime Minister says nationwide blackout could be caused by terrorists
A nationwide blackout across Turkey has thrown the country into chaos. Power outages have been reported in dozens of cities throughout the country due to a fault on power transmission lines, according to Turkey's Electricity Transmission Company TEİAŞ's statement.
Prime minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said that a crisis-desk at the Ministry of Energy has been established. He added: "We're considering all probabilities behind nationwide power outage, including terrorism."
Energy minister Taner Yıldız said that the fault was restored in some provinces as of midday. Due to the allegations that the fault was a cyber attack, Mr Yıldız said: "We cannot confirm whether power outage was a cyber or terrorist attack."
Istanbul's metro, tram and Marmaray services have come to a halt due to the blackout. Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality announced on Twitter that metro and tram services, along with Marmaray, had stopped due to the power outage. All passengers were successfully evacuated from metro lines. Traffic lights are also out of service in Istanbul, causing traffic jam in central neighborhoods.
Around 25 cities reported a power outage including Ankara, İzmir, Antalya and Adana. There have been reports of power outages in various shopping centres.
Turkey is currently experiencing electricity outages in many regions due to transmission line problems which occurred at 10.3am, Turkish Electricity Transmission Company, TEİAŞ officials said. In the western province of Kocaeli, one of the industrial centers of Turkey, several factories stopped production in the morning as most of the province was affected by the blackout. Local reports of a "huge explosion" in Kocaeli have not been confirmed.
Italian photojournalist Piero Castellano, who is living in Ankara, Turkey, said: “I’m currently trying to direct my friends to shops where they could buy solar chargers. There has been no explanation yet. I’ve seen online that the blackout spans 24 regions. The Istanbul metro, tramway and sub-Bosphorus Marmaray rail line are all down."