Turkish Authorities Dismiss Rumors About Mysterious Flashes 'Causing Earthquakes'

ISTANBUL (Sputnik) - Bright flashes in the sky during the earthquakes on February 20 in southeastern Turkiye are quite natural and have not been caused by some sort of special system responsible for quakes, the Turkish president's office said on Tuesday.

On Monday, social media users started to post photos of a bright blue flash that allegedly appeared in the sky moments before the earthquakes, with some claiming they had been caused by the US High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP). This phenomenon was allegedly seen in regions on the border between Turkiye and Syria.

"When [earth] plates begin to move, energy is released, on the other hand, shocks cause changes in the power grid, that is why bright flashes may appear. Such flashes can reach an altitude of 200 meters [***], under some circumstances they look like lightning," the office’s statement, obtained by Sputnik, said.

The flashes occur only during shocks and they disappear afterwards, the statement added.

HAARP was established in 1993 to study the highest part of Earth’s atmosphere - the ionosphere. It includes a 3.6 megawatt radio station in Alaska with numerous antennas that are reportedly capable of ionizing small areas in the atmosphere. The system has become the subject of numerous theories, suggesting that HAARP is capable of causing devastating natural disasters, including flood, droughts and earthquakes, and even controlling people's minds.

Similar flashes and flames were registered in 1927 during powerful earthquakes in Crimea. Then, they were attributed to the ignition of methane escaping from the bottom of the sea through cracks caused by seismic movements. According to other theories, it was hydrogen sulfide dissolved in the lower layers of the Black Sea, which, again, escaped in the water due to the earthquake.

Turkiye's disaster management authority AFAD reported two earthquakes in Hatay Province on Monday, three minutes apart, with magnitudes of 6.4 and 5.8. According to the latest data, six people died and around 300 were injured.

The tremors came in the aftermath of devastating quakes that hit Turkiye and Syria earlier this month, which killed over 40,000 people and injured many more, destroying countless buildings across the two countries.