Europe plunged into darkness! Will Turkey be affected by this situation?

A large-scale power outage in Europe has brought life to a standstill in Spain, Belgium, France, Andorra, and Portugal. The outages, which began in Spain and Portugal, spread to the Iberian Peninsula in a short time. The massive power outage also affected Andorra, France, and Belgium, in addition to Spain and Portugal.

The Spanish Ministry of the Interior announced that a state of emergency has been declared nationwide and that 30,000 police officers have been deployed to increase security.

It was reported that one of the four tower buildings in Madrid, where the British Embassy is located, was evacuated. Local radio reported that there were people trapped in stalled subway cars and elevators. The Spanish electrical grid operator, Red Electrica Espanola (REE), announced that the cause of the outage was not yet known.

Authorities stated that they are also investigating the possibility of a cyberattack. Red Electrica CEO Eduardo Prieto said, "It could take 5 to 10 hours to solve the problem." Highways and tunnels in Madrid have also been closed.

"RARE METEOROLOGICAL EVENT"

In Portugal, information was shared that there was a nationwide power outage. Portuguese police reported that traffic lights across the country were affected, subways in Lisbon and Porto were shut down, and trains were not running.

In a statement from the electricity operator E-Redes, it was stated that the outage was caused by "a problem in the European power grid."

The Portuguese national electrical grid operator, REN (Rede Elétrica Nacional), stated in its explanation regarding the cause of the widespread power outages in the country: "Rare weather events caused the outage. Sudden and severe meteorological changes in the interior regions of Spain may have led to abnormal fluctuations called 'atmospheric vibrations' in the 400 KV high-voltage lines.

We are also evaluating the fire that broke out on Mount Alaric in southwestern France, which damaged the high-voltage line between Perpignan and the eastern city of Narbonne, as a possible cause. Full normalization may take a week," the statement said.

REN also claimed that the outage might have originated from Spain's electrical grid.

SYSTEMS LOCKED

According to the news in Türkiye Gazetesi, Portuguese airlines called on passengers not to come to the airports. It was noted that card payments could not be made in Lisbon, and long queues formed at cash payment points. Citizens in some parts of France on the border with Andorra and Spain were also affected by the outages.

Other outages were reported as far as Belgium. Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro stated that there was no indication of a cyberattack in the power outage affecting the country. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced that it is not yet known what caused the power outages.

CYBERATTACK STATEMENT FROM THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL

European Council President Antonio Costa noted that, according to initial investigations, there is no indication that the power outage was caused by a cyberattack.

Costa stated that he is in contact with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, and that grid operators in both countries are "working to find the cause and restore the electricity supply."

WILL TURKEY BE AFFECTED? THE URUK SYSTEM PROTECTS

It is stated that Turkey's electrical grid (interconnected system) does not pose a risk as it has no connection with the lines in Europe.

While the possibility of a cyberattack is being discussed, Turkey took its precautions against this long ago with the URUK system. With URUK, developed by ASELSAN, data from many fields such as transportation, traffic, security, energy, infrastructure, environment, and health are collected and processed in a single center.

Thus, both cities are protected from cyberattacks and data-driven strategic planning can be carried out.