Daylight saving time in Turkey was implemented throughout the country in the periods of 1940 to 1952, 1962 to 1965, 1973 to 1978, and 1985 through 2016. In 2016, Turkey scrapped winter time, by permanently staying in UTC+03:00 daylight saving time zone after 8 September.
Whether daylight saving time is beneficial or not was a controversial issue. In this regard, the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources had published various surveys and articles in order to make the subject known to the broader public and to form an opinion. [1] With the decision of the Cabinet convened in 2013, the practice was terminated with the decision to turn the clocks back one hour on 27 October 2013.
It is believed that the practice of daylight saving time started to be discussed in Turkey with the enactment of Law No. 697 from 26 December 1925. [2] There are different sources regarding the history of the practice. [3] It was observed that the practice was adopted with a delay by the rural people before the 1950s. The practice officially started with the decision of the Council of Ministers that came into force on 1 July 1940. The practice was suspended between 1952–1961. Likewise, the practice was suspended between 1965–1972. Afterwards, the implementation continued uninterrupted. In 2008, the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources recommended the abolition of the application, creating and using the UTC+02:30 time zone, but no progress was made on this proposal. [4]
For the year 2011, Turkey switched to European Summer Time at 3:00 am (03:00) on Monday 28 March, one day later than the rest of Europe, to avoid disrupting the national university entrance examinations held on 27 March. [5]
The Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources decided to abolish the application as of 2013. Starting from March 2013, it was planned to terminate the practice by staying in summer time and GMT+3 time zone. However, this proposal was later abandoned.
According to the decree of the Council of Ministers from 7 September 2016, summer time has been made permanent in Turkey.
Turkey is between 26th meridian east and 45th meridian east. Since there are 19 meridians between the easternmost and westernmost parts of Turkey, there is a time difference of 1 hour and 16 minutes between the easternmost and westernmost points. Prior to 2016, Turkey used the time of the 30th meridian east. Therefore, Coordinated Universal Time+2 (UTC+2) was used in Turkey, meaning that time in Turkey was two hours ahead of UTC. When the summer time applied, Turkey used the time of the 45th meridian east. Thus, the clocks were advanced one hour and time in Turkey became UTC+3. Daylight saving time (clock moved forward one hour) started on the last Sunday in March and ended on the last Sunday in October. Since 2016, Turkey stopped observing DST and remained in GMT+3 permanently. [6]
A time zone is an area which observes a uniform standard time for legal, commercial and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries between countries and their subdivisions instead of strictly following longitude, because it is convenient for areas in frequent communication to keep the same time.
Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight saving(s), daylight savings time, daylight time (United States and Canada), or summer time (United Kingdom, European Union, and others), is the practice of advancing clocks to make better use of the longer daylight available during summer so that darkness falls at a later clock time. The typical implementation of DST is to set clocks forward by one hour in spring or late winter, and to set clocks back by one hour to standard time in the autumn (or fall in North American English, hence the mnemonic: "spring forward and fall back").
Japan Standard Time, or Japan Central Standard Time, is the standard time zone in Japan, 9 hours ahead of UTC (UTC+09:00). Japan does not observe daylight saving time, though its introduction has been debated on several occasions. During World War II, the time zone was often referred to as Tokyo Standard Time.
Central European Time (CET) is a standard time of Central, and parts of Western Europe, which is one hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The time offset from UTC can be written as UTC+01:00. It is used in most parts of Europe and in a few North African countries. CET is also known as Middle European Time and by colloquial names such as Amsterdam Time, Berlin Time, Brussels Time, Budapest Time, Madrid Time, Paris Time, Rome Time, Prague time, Warsaw Time or Romance Standard Time (RST).
In the United States, time is divided into nine standard time zones covering the states, territories and other US possessions, with most of the country observing daylight saving time (DST) for approximately the spring, summer, and fall months. The time zone boundaries and DST observance are regulated by the Department of Transportation, but no single map of those existed until the agency announced intentions to make one in September 2022. Official and highly precise timekeeping services (clocks) are provided by two federal agencies: the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) ; and the United States Naval Observatory (USNO). The clocks run by these services are kept synchronized with each other as well as with those of other international timekeeping organizations.
Summer time in Europe is the variation of standard clock time that is applied in most European countries in the period between spring and autumn, during which clocks are advanced by one hour from the time observed in the rest of the year, with a view to making the most efficient use of seasonal daylight. It corresponds to the notion and practice of daylight saving time (DST) to be found in some other parts of the world.
Eastern European Time (EET) is one of the names of UTC+02:00 time zone, 2 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time.
Moscow Time is the time zone for the city of Moscow, Russia, and most of western Russia, including Saint Petersburg. It is the second-westernmost of the eleven time zones of Russia. It has been set to UTC+03:00 without DST since 26 October 2014; before that date it had been set to UTC+04:00 year-round on 27 March 2011.
UTC+03:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +03:00. In areas using this time offset, the time is three hours ahead of the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Following the ISO 8601 standard, a time with this offset would be written as, for example, 2019-02-08T23:36:06+03:00.
Australia uses three main time zones: Australian Eastern Standard Time, Australian Central Standard Time and Australian Western Standard Time.
There are 11 time zones in Russia, which currently observe times ranging from UTC+02:00 to UTC+12:00. Daylight saving time (DST) has not been used in Russia since 26 October 2014. From 27 March 2011 to 26 October 2014, permanent DST was used.
Canada is divided into six time zones. Most areas of the country's provinces and territories operate on standard time from the first Sunday in November to the second Sunday in March and daylight saving time the rest of the year.
Time in Chile is divided into three time zones. Most of Continental Chile uses the time offset UTC−04:00 in winter time and UTC−03:00 in summer time, while the Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica region uses the time offset UTC−03:00 the whole year. Additionally, Easter Island uses the time offset UTC−06:00 in winter time and UTC−05:00 in summer time.
Iran Standard Time (IRST) or Iran Time (IT) is the time zone used in Iran. Iran uses a UTC offset UTC+03:30. IRST is defined by the 52.5 degrees east meridian, the same meridian which defines the Iranian calendar and is the official meridian of Iran.
UTC+00:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +00:00. This time zone is the basis of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and all other time zones are based on it. In ISO 8601, an example of the associated time would be written as 2069-01-01T12:12:34+00:00. It is also known by the following geographical or historical names:
As of 2022, daylight saving time is used in the following Asian countries:
Portugal has two time zones and observes daylight saving time. Continental Portugal and Madeira use UTC+00:00, while the Azores use UTC–01:00. Daylight saving time is observed nationwide from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October, when continental Portugal and Madeira advance one hour to UTC+01:00, and the Azores advances one hour to UTC+00:00.
Daylight saving time (DST), also known as summer time, is the practice of advancing clocks during part of the year, typically by one hour around spring and summer, so that daylight ends at a later time of the day. As of 2024, DST is observed in most of Europe, most of North America and parts of Africa and Asia around the Northern Hemisphere summer, and in parts of South America and Oceania around the Southern Hemisphere summer. It was also formerly observed in other areas.
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. It was also in use in Northern Cyprus until it reverted to Eastern European Time (EET) in October 2017.
Finland uses Eastern European Time (EET) during the winter as standard time and Eastern European Summer Time (EEST) during the summer as daylight saving time. EET is two hours ahead of coordinated universal time (UTC+02:00) and EEST is three hours ahead of coordinated universal time (UTC+03:00). Finland adopted EET on 30 April 1921, and has observed daylight saving time in its current alignment since 1981 by advancing the clock forward one hour at 03:00 EET on the last Sunday in March and back at 04:00 EET on the last Sunday in October, doing so an hour earlier for the first two years.