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Time in Turkey

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Time in Europe:
Light Blue Western European Time / Greenwich Mean Time (UTC)
Blue Western European Time / Greenwich Mean Time (UTC)
Western European Summer Time / British Summer Time / Irish Standard Time (UTC+1)
Red Central European Time (UTC+1)
Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)
Yellow Eastern European Time / Kaliningrad Time (UTC+2)
Ochre Eastern European Time (UTC+2)
Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)
Green Moscow Time / Turkey Time (UTC+3)
Turquoise Armenia Time / Azerbaijan Time / Georgia Time / Samara Time (UTC+4)
 Pale colours: Standard time observed all year
 Dark colours: Summer time observed

In Turkey, time is given by UTC+03:00 year-round. This time is also called Turkey Time (TRT). The time at most is the same as in the Moscow Time and Arabia Standard Time zones. TRT was adopted by the Turkish Government on 8 September 2016.[1] It was also in use in Northern Cyprus until it reverted to Eastern European Time (EET) in October 2017.[2]

During some seasons (March–October), the TRT is also on the same time as Eastern European Summer Time. The IANA time zone identifier for Turkey is Europe/Istanbul.[3]

History

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Ten men in suits, most in red fezes, wait before three ticket windows. Over them, two clockfaces. The postcard has the French text "Constantinople. Poste Impériale Ottomane.
This postcard of the Constantinople General Post Office in 1909 features two clocks, one in Turkish time (alaturka saat) and another in Western European time (alafranga saat).

Until 1927, "Turkish time" (or alla turca time or ezânî time) referred to the system of setting the clocks to 12:00 midnight at sunset.[4] This necessitated adjusting the clocks daily, although tower clocks were only reset two or three times a week,[5] and the precise time varied from one location to another depending on latitude and longitude.[4]

The day was divided into two 12-hour periods, with the second 12:00 occurring at a "theoretical sunrise."[4][5] In practice, the Turkish railroads used both Turkish time (for public schedules) and eastern European time (for actually scheduling the trains), and government telegraph lines used St. Sophia time (i.e., Paris time + 1:47:32) for international telegrams.[5]

From 1927 to 2016, Turkey used Eastern European Time (EET) in the winter (UTC+02:00) and Eastern European Summer Time (EEST) (UTC+03:00) during the summer.[6] The date for transition between standard time and daylight saving time generally followed EU rules, but had variations in some years.

In 2016, the decision to stay on UTC+03:00 year-round was enacted.[7] However, in October 2017, the Turkish government announced that starting 28 October 2018, the country would revert to EET,[8] but this sudden decision was reversed in November 2017.[9] In October 2018, a presidential decree announced that the UTC+03:00 would remain the year-round permanent time zone for the country.[10]

Today, during summers TRT time is the same as with the EEST (Eastern European Summer Time), while an hour ahead of EET (Eastern European Time) in winter and other the partial half of other seasons.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Time in Istanbul, Turkey".
  2. ^ "Saatler geri alınıyor!". Yeni Düzen. 17 October 2017. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  3. ^ "Time in Turkey".
  4. ^ a b c Atilla Bir; Șinasi Acar; Mustafa Kaçar (2011). "The Clockmaker Family Meyer and Their Watch Keeping the alla turca Time". In Günergun, Feza; Raina, Dhruv (eds.). Science between Europe and Asia: Historical Studies on the Transmission, Adoption and Adaptation of Knowledge. Dordrecht: Springer. p. 126.
  5. ^ a b c "The Present Status of the Use of Standard Time". Publications of the United States Naval Observatory. 4 (2): G23. 1906.
  6. ^ "Time Zones – Istanbul". timeanddate.com. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
  7. ^ Anne Buckle (8 September 2016). "Turkey Stays on Daylight Saving Time for Good". timeanddate.com.
  8. ^ "Türkiye'de saatler ne zaman ileri alınacak?". www.haberturk.com (in Turkish). Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  9. ^ "Yaz saati uygulaması sürekli hale geldi". www.hurriyet.com.tr (in Turkish). Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  10. ^ "Resmi Gazete'de yayımlandı: Flaş yaz saati kararı". Hürriyet (in Turkish). 2 October 2018. Archived from the original on 2 October 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2018.