Despite Daylight Saving Time (DST) coming to an end in Turkey, residents will not be turning back clocks.

As is tradition, when Daylight Saving comes to an end we turn our clocks back 1 hour. But, they will not be doing that in Turkey. Instead, the entire country will remain on UTC+3 time indefinitely.

 

Why Will Turkey Remain on UTC+3 for Good?

 

The Turkish Council of Ministers held a vote in Ankara - the country’s capital - to abolish it. As you can see, that vote passed and so the country will no longer observe the Daylight Saving time change.

 

Decision number 24005 was passed and issued by the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources on September 6, 2016. As such, the local law regarding the 24-hour-day schedule was amended to include the new time adjustments. Consequently, the clause that calls for Daylight Saving to end - and clocks set back an hour on October 30, 2016 at 4 am local time - is cancelled too.

 

Since they will not be changing time in the country, this means everyone will remain on the current time offset – UTC+3.

 

Turkey is not the only country to make such a change. In July 2016, Egypt also made the decision to stop adjusting their clocks for Daylight Saving.

 

There Were Other Time Change Proposals for Turkey

 

Just years ago – in March 2012 – the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources also proposed that Turkey remain on DST all year long. At that time, the concept was not accepted and they did not make the change.