Turkish cities' snowball fight takes Twitter by storm

With winter coming and snow on the way, a quartet of chilly Turkish cities this week started a playful Twitter battle, to the delight of social media.

On its official Twitter account, the city of Nigde, located in central Anatolia, threw the first barb, directed at neighboring Nevsehir, a city about an hour north, 86 kilometers (54 miles) away.

“Folks, we cleaned off our sidewalks so you wouldn't fall down and get hurt,” the city tweeted.

“Neighbor, we started our winter cleaning. What about you, Nevsehir?” it added.

But Nevsehir didn’t miss a beat, tweeting right back: "We started our winter cleaning too, dude. It snowed all night.”

Throwing the ball to Sivas, a city lying some 275 km (171 mi) northeast, Nevsehir’s account added: “We never stopped cleaning up. What about you, Sivas?"

Sivas, not to take anything lying down, made clear that it is no stranger to winter’s chill, tweeting: "Someone asked the cold where he comes from and the cold answered: ‘I’m from Erzurum originally, but Sivas is where I live'."

But Erzurum, a city in the heart of eastern Turkey, some 436 km (271 mi) to the east, where snow always arrives early and stays late, could not let Sivas disrespect its winter chill crown.

"Brother, as a city that has seen snow even in July, we are always ready,” tweeted the city, situated some 1,900 meters (6233 feet) above sea level, and famed for winter tourism.

“And you know what they say: 'When it snows in Erzurum, even Rize is chilled to the marrow'," referring to a Black Sea city.

As the cities traded playful jabs, the Turkish Twitter-sphere lit up, with but one question hanging in the air: What city would next join the winter free-for-all?