Abdullah Eroglu, a spokesperson for the area, told the Daily Star that he's seen many different kinds of beautiful vistas before, but never this. He stated, "We always recommend that our visitors watch the unique views of Zigana. They were lucky to see the most stunning scene today. That beam of light hit the slopes of Zigana for a really long time. We also filmed the scene with our mobile phones. It was like something from a sci-fi movie. Some people also compared it to a vertical rainbow. The guests at our center were very surprised they saw the scene and immediately reached for their phones to immortalize the moment."

As for what the beam was, according to scientists, it was a form of a crepuscular ray, a beam of sunlight that is made more visible by particles in the air, like dust, as they pass through gaps in the clouds. Usually they only occur during sunrise or sunset, so it is very rare for them to last as long as the one in Turkey did.