The Turkish government has been increasingly strict with censorship in recent years. In an attempt to control public views and punish disobedience to the cultural and political laws set forward by the government, Internet censorship in Turkey has reached an all-time high.
In 2016, this culminated in a decision by the Turkish government to block all anonymous forms of Internet surfing including VPNs and the Tor network. As in other countries where VPNs are illegal or banned, using a VPN in Turkey can be quite tricky.
How bad is the Internet censorship in Turkey?
If you are planning to visit Turkey or move into the country, you might not know exactly how heavy the censorship is over there. Things were quite bad before but after the attempted coup in July 2016, media freedom was all but abolished and censorship became the norm.
The fact that Freedom House ranksTurkey as “Not Free” in regards to Freedom of the Press is quite telling, after all. A huge percentage of journalists and others who have opposed the government in any shape or form have already been placed under arrest.
There have been many incidents in the past where the Turkish government has blocked access to popular websites including Twitter, Wikipedia, Facebook, and even YouTube.
The regulation of Internet content is, in fact, delegated to an official body which continuously filters certain websites and has even brought down full internet shutdowns during periods of unrest.
How to unblock and access banned websites in Turkey?
- Get a subscription to one of the VPNs that we recommend.
- Download and Install the VPN client.
- Connect to a server outside of Turkey.
- Now you can browse and access banned websites in Turkey without restrictions!
Aren’t all VPNs blocked in Turkey? What can I do about that?
In December 2016, the Turkish government attempted to block some of the most popular VPNs in the world. However, they did not make VPNs illegal and there are still quite a few VPN servers that work in Turkey.
Your best bet is to choose a trusted VPN provider and see if it works for you. We have compiled a list of what we believe are some of the best VPN services for Turkey out there along with detailed reviews of each and every one of them.
- Provider
- User Rating
- Price
NordVPN- 14827 Votes
- $3.29 / month
PureVPN- 7715 Votes
- $3.24 / month
ExpressVPN- 6930 Votes
- $6.67 /mo
Can i use free VPNs?
When we say trusted VPN provider, we also mean that you should stay away from free VPN services in Turkey as they are not fully secure and they keep detailed logs, which means that you might get into trouble for using them.
These VPNs have servers all around the world including in the US, Australia, the UK, Germany, Switzerland and many other European countries, which means that you can find a very fast server near Turkey that will not have any restrictions.
Furthermore, you can install them in pretty much every device such as a Windows computer, a macOS laptop, an Android phone or tablet, an iPhone, an iPad, Smart TVs, Apple TV, or perhaps even a game console like a PS4 or Xbox One.
In case you have any more questions about what to do or why VPNs are blocked in Turkey, don’t hesitate to comment below!
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