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Public Holidays and Bank Holidays for Turkey

The list of Turkey bank holidays, national holidays and public holidays for 2008, comes from the Q++ Worldwide Public Holidays Database, the professional source of international public holidays long trusted by the world's foremost diary publishers. The information on this page is provided for private, non-professional, use. Qualified professionals can license data for 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and beyond. For details, please visit our licensing information page or

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01 May 2008 (Hürriyet) The Governor of Istanbul, Turkey's largest city, has declared a de facto public holiday for today, May 1st, 2008, as the city braces for an unauthorized march by labour unions in the Taksm area of central Istanbul. As consequence, the Istanbul subway will not function today, buses will not stop at Taksim, all roads leading into Taksim will be blocked to traffic, ferry service from the coastal districts of Besiktas, Kabatas or Karakoy will be suspended until the afternoon, and schools in the Beyoglu, Sisli and Okmeydani districts will be closed. • 21 Apr 2008 Turkey's government says it will again commemorate workers' day on May 1, starting in 2008, after a 28 year hiatus, but government spokesman Cemil Cicek says May Day will not be a public holiday. • 19 Apr 2008 (Zaman) AK Party deputy, Agah Kafkas, has submitted to Parliament a proposal for May 1 to be restored as a public holiday in Turkey, to be celebrated as the Day of Unity and Solidarity (May 1st was a public holiday, called Spring Day, from 1935 until September 1980 military coup). Turkey's Labor Minister, Faruk Çelik, announced to reporters that he was in favor of the change and that the government would announce its decision on Monday, April 21, 2008. • 20 Mar 2008 (Turkish Daily News) Turkey's Parliament decided to discuss a draft bill that will make the traditional Nevruz festival celebrated, by the Kurds of Turkey, on March 21, a national public holiday. • 27 Jun 2007 (NTV-MSNBC) The special public holiday of today, due to the heat wave, has been confirmed. Follow links for more details. • 26 Jun 2007 (Nirvana International) The government is considering calling a national holiday for tomorrow, Wednesday, June 27, 2007, due to the recent heat wave which is expected to culminate tomorrow, before reverting back to normal seasonal temperatures. • 23 Oct 2006 All financial institutions will be closed from October 23 to October 25, 2006, inclusive. • More News Updates For the full version of the summarized news items above, and older news items not displayed above, go to the Turkey public holidays news and updates page, or worldwide public holidays news and updates page, or subscribe to one of our free email newsletters.

Governing Law: The list and dates of the official public holidays in Turkey are regulated by by Act 2429 of March 19, 1981 that replaced the 2739 of May 27, 1935. • Muslim Holidays: The Islamic calendar used in Turkey is based (partially) on the results of the Conference for Determining the beginnings of Lunar Months which was held in Istanbul, on 28 November 1978, and which set forth 3 astronomical criteria for the prediction of lunar visibility: • sunset should occur after conjunction (ie. the New Moon), • an angular distance between the moon and the sun of at least 8 degrees, and • an angular distance of the moon from the horizon that should not be less than 5 degrees. In principle, these criteria were to be used by all the following countries, Bangladesh, Algeria, Indonesia, Iraq, Katar, Kuwait, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, but in practice, nowadays, only Turkey follows these criteria. • Other Sources of Information For information not covered here, see the following specialized websites: Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (Turkey central bank), ASI Hot Spots (security-related world events: terrorist threats, political strife, strikes, criminal activity, aviation incidents and health outbreaks), CIA World Factbook (maps, demographic and economic statistics), Copp Clark (financial markets' trading hours, settlement holidays and currency non-clearing days), and the IFES Election Guide (information covering upcoming elections, referenda, electoral structures and past voter participation).

Observance : Any entry in the Observance column indicates that, in Turkey, the holiday may be regional or non-official or limited to certain religious and/or linguistic groups, or begin at a time other than midnight. Note that religious holidays are included only if they are national public holidays, or if the national labour code has specific holiday allowances for employees of specific religions. For more information, see our pages on the religious calendars of the world.

Religious Holidays : Public holidays in Turkey that are based on certain religious calendars may be subject to local variations due to differing interpretations between different religious authorities, or to seemingly arbitrary changes in the date a holiday is celebrated because it conflicts with another holiday that is based on another calendar, or because the day of the holiday is deemed inauspicious (bad luck). To find out more about these uncertainties, see the footnote below, if any, for each specific religion.

Muslim Holidays : Muslim bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays, for Turkey, were calculated using the Diyanet Isleri Baskanligi (DIB) lunar visibility criteria. For Salat (prayer times) calculations, see our Freeware page.

Disclaimer
In many parts of the world, holidays are subject to arbitrary, last minute, changes by local authorities. While every effort has been made to present an accurate list of 2008 bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for Turkey, we cannot accept any responsibility for any error or omission in the data presented above. You are therefore advised to verify the above dates with the embassy or consulate of Turkey, before planning any trip to Turkey. For last-minute updates to worldwide public holidays, visit our blog or subscribe to our free email newsletters.