Turkey to keep same time all year, scraps winter change

ISTANBUL, Turkey – Turkey will not turn its clocks back from this winter, staying on summer time all year round in a bid to better utilize daylight, according to a decree published in the official gazette on Thursday, September 8.

The clocks in Turkey went forward one hour from March 27 for summer time, in line with the rest of Europe.

But this setting will now remain in place throughout the year across the country, according to the decree adopted at the cabinet meeting the day earlier.

The clocks were to have gone back one hour on October 30 when Turkish summertime officially ends.

But after the decree, there will be no winter adjustment and Turkey will stay all year round on summer time.

The decree, which immediately comes into force, said the decision was aimed at “making more use of daylight” during the winter time.

The decision means that Turkey will be three hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) in winter as well as summer and two hours ahead of continental Europe in winter.

It will now be on what is regarded as Daylight Saving Time all year round.

“I abolished the winter-summer time difference,” Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said in a speech to provincial governors.

“There will be no confusion now. The hours will be the same in winter and summer.

“You will change, not the hours. Time economy,” he quipped to the governors. – Rappler.com