Stunning mosques, spiced bazaars, warm hospitality — and an internet regulator that blocked Wikipedia for 971 days, bans Twitter during elections, and has jailed more journalists than any other country in Europe.
Behind every blocked URL is a city of 15 million — of çay glasses, nazar beads, vapur crossings, and 2,500 years of civilization. They deserve the same internet as everyone else.
The evil eye bead wards off envy. Hung in every doorway from Kapalıçarşı to Kadıköy.
Turkey drinks 3 billion cups of tea a year. No negotiation, business, or gossip happens without one.
Mosaic lanterns from the Grand Bazaar cast kaleidoscope light across 64 covered streets.
Istanbul's iconic sesame ring. Sold from carts since the 16th century — 500 years of breakfast.
The Bosphorus ferries connect two continents. 150,000 passengers cross daily between Europe and Asia.
Built in 1348 by Genoese colonists. Istanbul's oldest tower, still visible from the Bosphorus.
On April 29, 2017, Turkey's BTK (Information Technologies Authority) blocked all language editions of Wikipedia — without a court order, without notice, without appeal. It was the longest Wikipedia ban in a democratic country ever recorded.
Each dot = one day Wikipedia was blocked (April 29, 2017 → December 26, 2019)
BTK can block any site under Administrative Law Article 8(A) — with a phone call, no judge required.
The Constitutional Court finally ruled the block violated freedom of expression. It took until 2019 for Turkey to comply.
Every internet user in Turkey lost access to knowledge in 294 languages. Students. Teachers. Researchers. Everyone.
Turkey's Constitutional Court has ruled multiple internet bans unconstitutional. The government's response? Reban, reword the order, and wait for the next appeal cycle.
Twitter banned. Constitutional Court says illegal. Twitter restored — 15 days later, banned again under a new order.
YouTube banned for 2 weeks. Court rules it illegal. Restored. Government appeals the restoration.
Wikipedia blocked. Constitutional Court rules it unconstitutional in 2019. Block finally lifted after 971 days.
New internet law (No. 7418) makes permanent content removal the default for any 'damaging' post.
Turkey consistently ranks as the world's biggest jailer of journalists, surpassing even China and Iran in some years. More than 90 journalists were behind bars in 2023 alone — reporters, editors, and cartoonists.
A VPN routes your traffic through an encrypted server abroad, putting it outside BTK's reach. No matter what Turkey blocks next, you're already through the wall.
"During the 2023 election night, my Twitter feed just stopped. The VPN was the only reason I could follow what was happening in real time."
"I'm a university student. The Wikipedia block during my thesis research was genuinely painful. I had no idea VPNs were this simple to set up."
"As a journalist, I need sources from international press constantly. Half of them are throttled during sensitive periods. The VPN just works."
"My company has colleagues in the EU. During the 2016 coup night, all communication tools were blocked. We couldn't reach anyone for hours."
"I travel a lot and I assumed internet issues were just a Turkey thing. Then I used Horizon VPN and realized how much I was missing."
VPNs are not explicitly banned in Turkey, though the government blocks some VPN provider websites. The act of using a VPN is not criminalized. Millions of Turks use VPNs daily, especially during election periods when social media is throttled.
Turkey's Information Technologies Authority (BTK) can issue blocking orders under Law No. 5651 without a court order. ISPs must comply within 4 hours. DNS blocking is most common, though deep packet inspection (DPI) is used for persistent circumvention.
Slightly — but during throttling events (elections, protests, coup attempts), a VPN to a nearby server in Europe will actually be faster than the throttled local speed. Horizon VPN has servers in Romania, Germany, and the Netherlands — all within low latency of Turkey.
Yes. Turkcell, Türk Telekomunikasyon, and Vodafone Turkey all apply the same BTK blocks as home internet providers. A VPN works identically on mobile data.
The Turkish government has attempted to block VPN traffic using DPI, though consumer VPN protocols with obfuscation successfully bypass this. Horizon VPN uses stealth protocols designed to look like normal HTTPS traffic.
Join millions of Turks who refuse to accept a filtered, throttled, government-approved internet.
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