IANA tz database · zone identifier

Europe/Istanbul

The IANA tz database identifier for Istanbul Time in Turkey. Store this string — not the abbreviation, not the offset — and your timestamps stay correct forever.

UTC+03:00Abbreviation +03No DST — never observed

Time in Europe/Istanbul☾ Night

01:57:17

Thursday, July 16, 2026

Offset

UTC+03:00

Abbreviation

+03

DST

No DST

Current offset

UTC+03:00

same year-round

Abbreviation

+03

tzdb uses numeric abbreviations here

DST behaviour

Never

has never observed daylight saving

Country

🇹🇷 Turkey

ISO 3166: TR · view country page →

Using this identifier

The string to put in your code.

Europe/Istanbul is the identifier to use in code and config for this region. Every modern language, database, and OS resolves it through the same tz database, so the examples here behave identically everywhere.

Avoid storing +03 or +03:00 — abbreviations are ambiguous and fixed offsets can't follow rule changes.

// format a date in this zone

new Intl.DateTimeFormat('en-US', {

timeZone: 'Europe/Istanbul',

dateStyle: 'full', timeStyle: 'long'

}).format(new Date());

Offset & DST behaviour

One offset,
9 years.

Europe/Istanbul has kept UTC+03:00 year-round since 7 September 2016 — no daylight saving and no offset changes on record since. It is among the most stable identifiers in the database.

Every offset this zone has kept

Keeping this offset since

7 September 2016

Next transition

None scheduled

no DST rules exist for this zone

Safe to assume

Local = UTC + 3h, always

…but store the identifier anyway

Technical record

The database entry, in full.

source: IANA tz database

IdentifierEurope/Istanbul

ISO country codeTR🇹🇷 Turkey

Reference coordinates41.02°N, 28.97°Etz database reference point

Standard offsetUTC+03:00abbreviation +03

Daylight offset—daylight saving has never been observed

Where it applies

All of Turkey, one clock.

Looking for travel-friendly info? See Istanbul or Istanbul Time.

🇹🇷

Turkey

85M people, one time zone. The whole country resolves to Europe/Istanbul.

Related identifiers

Nearby in the database.

Same offset · UTC+03:00

other zones keeping this offset right now

Africa/Addis_AbabaEthiopia · East Africa Time Africa/AsmaraEritrea · East Africa Time Africa/CairoEgypt · Eastern European Summer Time Africa/Dar_es_SalaamTanzania · East Africa Time Africa/DjiboutiDjibouti · East Africa Time Africa/KampalaUganda · East Africa Time

Frequently asked questions

Answers specific to this identifier — generated from the database record. Can't find what you need? Email [email protected].

What UTC offset is Europe/Istanbul?: Europe/Istanbul is UTC+03:00, year-round. The offset never changes because the zone does not observe daylight saving time.
Does Europe/Istanbul observe daylight saving time?: No. Europe/Istanbul has never observed DST — it has kept UTC+03:00 continuously since 7 September 2016.
Which country uses Europe/Istanbul?: Turkey. The identifier covers the whole country.
Is Europe/Istanbul the same as ISTANB?: Europe/Istanbul is one of the IANA zones that keeps Istanbul Time (ISTANB). Use Europe/Istanbul in software — ISTANB is a human-friendly label, not a valid identifier.

Free · Developer API

This zone, as JSON.

Everything on this page — offset, abbreviation, DST rules, coordinates — from one endpoint, always current with the latest tzdb release.

GET /v1/timezones Live

countries, cities, convert, DST transitions coming next.

Get your free API key →

// this identifier, resolved live

GET /v1/timezones?iana=Europe/Istanbul

{

"iana": "Europe/Istanbul",

"utc_offset": "+03:00",

"abbreviation": "+03",

"observes_dst": false,

"country": "TR"

}