Turkey Guide
Opening hours and public holidays
January 1Yılbaşı – New Year's Day.
April 23Ulusal Egemenlik ve Çocuk Bayramı – Independence Day, celebrating the first meeting of the new Republican parliament in Ankara, and Children's Day.
May 19Gençlik ve Spor Günü – Youth and Sports Day, also Atatürk's birthday. May 29 Festival to commemorate İstanbul's capture by Mehmet the Conqueror in 1453 (İstanbul only).
July 1Denizcilik Günü – Navy Day (banks and offices open).
August 26Silahlı Kuvvetler Günü – Armed Forces Day (banks and offices open).
August 30Zafer Bayramı – Celebration of the Turkish victory over the Greek forces at Dumlupınar in 1922.
September 9KurtuluşGünü – Liberation Day, with parades and speeches marking the end of the Independence War (İzmir only).
October 29Cumhuriyet Bayramı – commemorates the proclamation of the Republic by Atatürk in 1923.
November 10 The anniversary of Atatürk's death in 1938. Observed at 9.05am (the time of his death), when the whole country stops whatever it's doing and maintains a respectful silence for a minute. It's worth being on a Bosphorus ferry this morning, when all the engines are turned off, and the boats drift and blow their foghorns mournfully.