Turkey Starts DST One Day Later Due to Exam
Published 11-Mar-2011
Turkey will start daylight saving at 3am local time on Monday, March 28 rather than Sunday, March 27, in 2011.
Turkey will start daylight saving at 3am local time on Monday, March 28 rather than Sunday, March 27, in 2011.
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The Council of Ministers announced that Turkey will move their clocks forward one hour from 3am (03:00) to 4am (04:00) local time on Monday, March 28, 2011 rather than Sunday, March 27 due to a nationwide exam.
Most of Europe will be starting daylight saving time (DST) at 1am (01:00) Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on Sunday, March 27, in 2011.
Nationwide Exam Pushes DST Start Date
The Transition to Higher Education Examination (YGS) is a nationwide exam that is scheduled to take place on Sunday, March 27, 2011. It is the first-round exam that determines the students’ chances of being accepted into a university program.
Turkish educators objected to the DST start date because 1.5 million students will take the nationwide exam on that day. They feared that switching to DST on the same day as the exam might cause unnecessary stress for students.
Thus, the Cabinet decided to move daylight saving time to Monday, March 28 which is one day later than originally scheduled.
Turkey's DST Schedule
Most of Europe, including Turkey follow an annual synchronized daylight saving time schedule that starts at 1am (01:00) UTC on the last Sunday of March and ends at 1am (01:00) UTC on the last Sunday of October.
Daylight saving time is scheduled to begin in Turkey at 3am (03:00) local time on Monday, March 28 and end at 4am (04:00) local time on Sunday, October 30, in 2011.