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Power outage hits much of Turkey, officials won't rule out terrorism
(CNN)A massive power outage spread across Turkey Tuesday, blacking out a broad swath of the country and affecting some flights.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said all possible causes were under investigation, including terrorism.
Trams and subways were idled in Istanbul -- with more than 14 million inhabitants, the largest city in the country and the fifth largest in the world. Homes and offices were left without electricity as well.
"I am sitting in my apartment," CNN producer Gul Tuysuz reported from Istanbul. "No lights. No electricity."
Official won't rule out cyberattack
The Turkish capital, Ankara, some 250 miles from Istanbul, was also affected. The outage extended to 45 of Turkey's 81 provinces.
Turkey's semiofficial Anadolu Agency quoted Energy Minister Taner Yildiz as saying the cause of the outage was unknown. Yildiz, speaking during a visit to Slovakia, said he could neither confirm nor deny that a cyberattack had triggered the blackout, the Anadolu Agency reported.
Flightradar24, which maps real-time flight data on the Internet, tweeted that the outage was "affecting flights," and said 11 of its 16 air traffic monitoring systems receivers -- as distinct from the country's air traffic control system -- were not working.
The Turkish Electricity Transmission Co. blamed the outage on a problem with transmission lines, Anadolu Agency reported. The utility said an investigation was in progress, as were efforts to restore power, the news agency said.
The outage began at 10:36 a.m. (3:36 a.m. ET). Nearly two hours later, according to Anadolu Agency, about 15% of the power had been restored to Istanbul and Ankara, including in some subway stations. Power also was beginning to flow again to a number of provinces that had been cut off, the agency reported.
Power outage hits Turkey, affects air traffic - CNN.com
Turkey grinds to halt after massive power cut
Istanbul: A massive power cut caused chaos Tuesday across Turkey, shutting down the metro networks in Istanbul and the capital Ankara, with the government saying an outside attack on the system was not ruled out.
The power cut, the worst in one-and-a-half decades, began around 10:36 am (0736 GMT) in Istanbul, the state-run Anatolia news agency quoted the Turkey Electricity Transmission Company (TEIAS) as saying.
It also hit almost all the country’s provinces from the Greek border to the southeast.
“Every possibility including a terrorist attack is being investigated,” in the outage affecting the country of some 76 million, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said.
He added that a crisis desk was established at the energy ministry.
Energy Minister Taner Yildiz also said the authorities were investigating whether the power outage was due to a technical failure or a “cyber-attack.”
“The most important thing for us is to bring the system back to life. This is not something we frequently experience,” he said.
The ministry was quoted as saying by Turkish media that a power cut on this scale had not been seen in 15 years.
Media reports said that the power cut affected at least two dozen cities, where telephone and Internet lines were also mostly down.
The blackout trapped people in elevators in Istanbul and rescue teams rushed to subway stations to evacuate stranded travellers.
Traffic lights also were not working in several places in the city, causing huge traffic jams, with officers taking to the streets in an attempt to break the logjams.
Websites warned commuters to take special care of traffic accidents.
The Istanbul tramway which links outlying areas with the historic touristic heart of the city was also down, as was the metro in the Aegean city of Izmir.
In the heavily industrialised western city Izmit, near Istanbul, the cuts prevented many factories and workshops from functioning.
There were conflicting initial reports about the cause of the outage but Turkish grid operator TEIAS said it resulted from a severing of the power lines between Europe and said it could take hours before the power cut was restored.
The Chamber of Electrical Engineers of Turkey however claimed that it happened because some private power suppliers had refused to sell electricity due to low prices.
The DHA news agency said almost all provinces in Turkey were affected by the outage, except the Van province in the east which imports electricity from neighbouring Iran.
Turkey grinds to halt after massive power cut |GulfNews.com
