What time is it in Türkiye?
GMT+3 · Europe/Istanbul
Back to TürkiyeNow in Ankara
GMT+3 UTC+03:00
UTC+03:00
all yearGMT+03:00
Türkiye has kept its clocks on UTC+3 in every month since September 2016, when summer time ended without the clocks going back and the summer hour became the standard one. The zone is Turkey Time, TRT, in Turkish Türkiye Saati, and a single zone covers the country, so Istanbul and Ankara read the same. From March to October it matches the summer time of Greece and Bulgaria; for the rest of the year it runs an hour ahead of them.
Today
Daylight in Ankara today
DayLive
12:00
- Sunrise
- 06:41First light 06:14
- Sunset
- 18:37Last light 19:04
- Day length
- 11 h 56 min−3 min on yesterday
- Solar noon
- 12:39Sun at 48°, its highest
Plan a call
Find an hour that works in Türkiye and elsewhere
The two rows are the same day, hour for hour. Pick a city, then an hour, and the line between the rows marks the office hours both sides share.
Time difference
How far Türkiye is from other places
Neighbours
- ArmeniaYerevan+1 h
- AzerbaijanBaku+1 h
- BulgariaSofiaSame time
- GeorgiaTbilisi+1 h
- GreeceAthensSame time
- IraqBaghdadSame time
- IranTehran+0:30 h
- SyriaDamascusSame time
Around the world
- London−2 h
- New York−7 h
- Los Angeles−10 h
- São Paulo−6 h
- MoscowSame time
- Dubai+1 h
- Delhi+2:30 h
- Beijing+5 h
- Tokyo+6 h
- Sydney+7 h
Clock changes
Türkiye does not change its clocks
Until 1927 Turkish time, called alla turca or ezânî time, set clocks to 12:00 at sunset, so the hour shifted daily and varied from town to town. The time zone database records summer time in 1916, from 1920 to 1922, in 1924 and 1925, from 1940 to 1942, from 1945 to 1951, from 1962 to 1964 and from 1973 to 1978. From 1979 to 1982 the country stayed on UTC+3 all year, and in 1983 summer time took it to UTC+4. From 1984 winter was UTC+2 and summer UTC+3, on dates that mostly followed the European rule. The exceptions came from events at home: in 2011 and 2014 the spring change came a day late, on a Monday, to keep clear of a university entrance examination and of local elections, and in 2015 summer time ran two weeks longer because of a snap general election on 1 November. The summer time begun in spring 2016 was never ended.
Daylight
Sunrise and sunset through the year in Ankara
- Sunrise
- 06:41
- Sunset
- 18:37
- Daylight
- 11 h 56 min
- Change
- −3 min
Longest day of 2026: 20 June, 15 h 01 min.
Computed for 39.94, 32.84 at sea level with the NOAA solar equations, to the nearest minute, taking no account of hills.
Writing the time
- Clock
- 24-hour
- Short date
- 5.03.2026
- Long date
- 5 Mart 2026
- Week starts
- Monday
- Zone names
- GMT+3
- Time zone database
- Istanbul
History
How the clocks in Türkiye got here
- 1890
- To 1909.Local mean time, UTC+01:56, before the standard zone.
- 1910
- The move from local mean time, UTC+01:56, to UTC+02:00.
- 1911
- To 1915.UTC+02:00 all year.
- 1916
- Clocks on UTC+02:00, UTC+03:00 at different times of the year.
- 1917
- To 1919.UTC+02:00 all year.
- 1920
- To 1922.Clocks on UTC+02:00, UTC+03:00 at different times of the year.
- 1923
- UTC+02:00 all year.
- 1924
- To 1925.Clocks on UTC+02:00, UTC+03:00 at different times of the year.
- 1926
- To 1939.UTC+02:00 all year.
- 1940
- To 1942.Clocks on UTC+02:00, UTC+03:00 at different times of the year.
- 1943
- To 1944.UTC+03:00 all year, no summer time.
- 1945
- Clocks on UTC+02:00, UTC+03:00 at different times of the year.
- 1946
- To 1951.Clocks on UTC+02:00, UTC+03:00 at different times of the year.
- 1952
- To 1961.UTC+02:00 all year.
- 1962
- To 1963.Clocks on UTC+02:00, UTC+03:00 at different times of the year.
- 1964
- Clocks on UTC+02:00, UTC+03:00 at different times of the year.
- 1965
- To 1972.UTC+02:00 all year.
- 1973
- To 1977.Clocks on UTC+02:00, UTC+03:00 at different times of the year.
- 1978
- Clocks on UTC+02:00, UTC+03:00 at different times of the year.
- 1979
- To 1982.UTC+03:00 all year, no summer time.
- 1983
- UTC+03:00 in winter, UTC+04:00 in summer time.
- 1984
- Clocks on UTC+02:00, UTC+03:00 at different times of the year.
- 1985
- To 2015.Clocks on UTC+02:00, UTC+03:00 at different times of the year.
- 2016
- Clocks on UTC+02:00, UTC+03:00 at different times of the year.
- 2017
- To today.UTC+03:00 all year, no summer time.
From the IANA time zone database, Europe/Istanbul, as the build machine carries it.
Common questions
Questions about the time in Türkiye
What time zone is Türkiye in?
Turkey Time, TRT, which is UTC+3 all year. The same offset is kept by Moscow Time and Arabia Standard Time. One zone covers the whole country, and the time zone database lists it as Europe/Istanbul. In Turkish the zone is called Türkiye Saati.
Does Türkiye change its clocks?
No, not since 2016. Summer time was due to end at 04:00 on 30 October 2016, but decision no. 24005 of 6 September 2016 amended the Law Regarding the 24-Hour Day and cancelled the change, and the Council of Ministers voted on 7 September to stay on summer time for good. The same idea had been put forward by the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources in March 2012 and had not passed then.
Did Türkiye ever plan to go back to winter time?
Once, briefly. In October 2017 the government announced a return to Eastern European Time and summer time from 28 October 2018. The decision was reversed in November 2017, and a presidential decree in October 2018 confirmed UTC+3 as the permanent time. An earlier plan, put forward by the energy ministry in 2008, would have dropped summer time and moved the country to UTC+2:30; nothing came of it.
Is Türkiye on the same time as Greece and Bulgaria?
From the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October, yes: Greece and Bulgaria are then on Eastern European Summer Time, UTC+3. For the rest of the year they return to UTC+2 and Türkiye is an hour ahead. Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan keep UTC+4 and stay an hour ahead of Türkiye in every month.
What is the time difference between Türkiye and London?
Two hours while the United Kingdom is on British Summer Time, and three hours from late October to late March. The gap changes because London moves its clocks and Türkiye does not: in 2026 London was on summer time from 29 March to 25 October, so a 09:00 call in London was 11:00 in Istanbul over the summer and 12:00 in winter.
What was alla turca time in Türkiye?
The Ottoman way of telling the hour, used until 1927. Clocks were set to 12:00 at sunset, and a second 12:00 came at a theoretical sunrise, so the hour depended on the season and the place. Tower clocks were reset only two or three times a week. Railways printed timetables in Turkish time but ran trains on Eastern European Time, and the telegraph used St Sophia time for international messages. A 1909 postcard of the Istanbul post office shows two clocks, one for each system.
Does northern Cyprus keep Turkish time?
Not any longer. The Turkish Cypriot north followed the mainland onto year-round UTC+3 in 2016 and did not turn its clocks back that October. In October 2017 it returned to Eastern European Time, which runs an hour behind Türkiye outside the summer months.