[tz] News article: Turkey’s plan to ignore daylight saving time has been foiled by smartphones

[Philip Newton]

http://qz.com/533126/turkeys-plan-to-ignore-daylight-saving-time-has-been-foiled-by-smartphones/

Turkey, like other countries on Eastern European Time (EET), was
supposed to turn its clocks back by one hour on Sunday (Oct. 25) for
the annual end of daylight saving time—or, as it’s known in Europe,
“summer time.” But this year, the Turkish government told citizens to
wait until Nov. 1 to allow more hours of light for voting in the
nation’s upcoming parliamentary elections, reports the BBC.

However, anyone who uses internet- or radio-connected mobile devices
or computers to tell time knows that those clocks sync automatically
to international standards. Today, Oct. 26, many people in Turkey with
the latest Apple, Android, and Windows devices woke up with their
clocks an hour slower than the government’s.

The hashtag #saatkac (“what’s the time”) is trending among Twitter
users in the country.

The government has done this before for national elections and
university entrance exams, in each case delaying the clock changes by
one day. This year, however, Turkey has asked citizens to wait 14 days
before turning their clocks back.

For the next two weeks, then, the country is on “Erdogan Time,” a
national joke and a nod to president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s
paternalistic reputation.