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| The Grand Turk | |
| Turkey Grinds to Halt after Massive Power Cut | |
| 2015-04-01 | |
[AnNahar] 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.
It was confirmed to have hit 49 of the country's total 81 provinces, from the Greek border to those in the southeast with Iran and Iraq. "Every possibility including a terrorist attack is being investigated," in the outage affecting the country of some 76 million people, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. He added that a crisis desk has been 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," Yildiz 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 outage 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 travelers. 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, also went down, as was the metro in the Aegean city of Izmir. - Istanbul metro resumes operations - Around three hours after the power cut struck Istanbul, the metro, tramway and the Marmaray underground system that goes underneath the Bosphorus came back on line and resumed operations. However private homes were still without power, with reports saying that electricity had been restored to no more than 10 percent of Istanbul. In the heavily industrialized 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 Turkey, and warned it could take hours before electricity is restored. The Chamber of Electrical Engineers of Turkey, however, claimed that it occurred 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 neighboring Iran. Conspiracy theories for the outage also did the rounds on the Internet, with the situation the top trend under the hashtag #BuradaElektrikYok (There is no electricity here). Turkey is seeking to move forward in its bid to create a regional power market by privatizing its power suppliers. It completed the privatization of 20 power distribution grids in 2013, and no longer owns any. But power cuts are still common in the country, especially in the southeast, where endemic outages occasionally cause deadly clashes. The cut comes at a particularly tense period in Turkey ahead of June 7 legislative elections and with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan increasingly polarizing society. The government is seeking to make peace with Kurdish militants while also dealing with the advance of Islamic State (IS) jihadists in Iraq and Syria up to the Turkish border. | |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #11 Speaking of backhoes and such... A runaway tamper, desirous Of ravishing Miss Miley Cyrus, Was stilled when she prayed To Saint Vitus and brayed, "Don't do this! You might catch my virus!" |
| Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 2015-04-01 23:19 |
| #10 The Turks are repor also recovering from an attempted suicide bombing agz an Istanbul police HQ. * BHARAT RAKSHAK > [Twitter] ISTANBUL UNDER SIEGE AS MASKED GUNMEN ARE ROAMING THE STREETS AFTER FAILED ATTEMPTED SUICIDE ATTACK ON POLICE HQ. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2015-04-01 21:59 |
| #9 Yeah, well whatever, we're still gonna have a pogrom. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2015-04-01 17:34 |
| #8 Looks now like a major link between Turkey and the European supply (through Bulgaria) went down somehow. That is the majority power source for the western 3/4 of the country. The eastern 1/4 gets its power mostly from Iran. |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2015-04-01 16:52 |
| #7 Good to know that even Turkish lifts fail to safe. |
| Posted by: Bob Gray2146 2015-04-01 14:44 |
| #6 We have similar issues in the power industry, SteveS, but the consequences are more dire. Whena backhoe accidently hits an underground utility power line, there's more than just 'fading' that occurs. There are large 'booms', lots of heat, bright flashes and probably the termination of a life or two. Based on information I can glean, the Turks managed to get a 'backup loop' going to feed the populated areas with some power (although intermittent), but they haven't disclosed where the initial problem occurred. When the 'fault' (whatever it was) occurred, the grid's safety systems operated as they should and shut down major portions of the infrastructure to protect the substations and power lines from damage due to the 'surge' caused by the fault. This was an interesting occurrence that shut down some pretty major portions of the country. If it was terrorism, it could have been a VERY lucky shot, but most likely was planned with a LOT of system study and/or had comprehensive inside knowledge of the county's grid. |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2015-04-01 14:21 |
| #5 please translate into non-technical language, please "Backhoe fade" is when a back-hoe digger interrupts service by cutting a cable. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2015-04-01 14:04 |
| #4 Why would Mossad bother Practice? |
| Posted by: Steve White 2015-04-01 13:28 |
| #3 Dunno about the power industry, but in telecoms, we called it "backhoe fade". For those of us not in telecoms, SteveS, please translate into non-technical language, please. Elder of Zion, why would Mossad bother, when they have sl many more urgent targets? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2015-04-01 13:17 |
| #2 Dunno about the power industry, but in telecoms, we called it "backhoe fade". |
| Posted by: SteveS 2015-04-01 12:52 |
| #1 Mossad Work ?? |
| Posted by: Elder of Zion 2015-04-01 12:43 |