Severe winter weather prompted authorities to suspend classes in more than a dozen cities and towns across Türkiye in December 2006, including Black Sea provinces such as Trabzon, Rize, Artvin, Giresun, Bartin, and Zonguldak, as well as the southeastern provinces of Batman and Sirnak. Karadeniz Technical University in Trabzon also shut down for a day.
Snow depths topped 30 centimeters in the city centers of Batman and Sirnak, and hundreds of village roads in both provinces were blocked. Several inter-provincial highways, including the Ardahan-Savsat route in eastern Anatolia, were also closed. A highways official said crews would work to reopen that road once conditions improved.
Workers were struggling to keep the Bolu Mountain pass on the Ankara-Istanbul expressway navigable, and drivers were cautioned about icy surfaces. Batman experienced outages in both electricity and water service.
At Diyarbakir Airport, an icy runway caused flight delays, with airport officials saying service could resume around midday.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in December 2006, in its own words.