Changes to Cyprus timezones

Question

Today I've heard end of radio program talking about recent some changes in Cyprus timezones. I did not hear the details, but conlusion was, that for travelers travelling between Cyprus and Northern Cyprus (I know, that this is possible) this can a be a little experience.

Expert talking in that radio program underlined that this recent change to Cyprus timezones came from the fact, that both sides of island want to have their timezones aligned to home countries -- i.e.:

• the Republic of Cyprus's (ROC) want to have the same timezone as Greece has and
• the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus's (TRNC) want to have times zone aligned to Turkey.

However, when reading Wikipedia's articles on both countries (links above) I found out, that both of them actually have the same timezone:

• EET (UTC+2) during winter and
• EEST (UTC+3) during summer.

What am I missing (from that radio talk or in generally)? Can someone shed any light on this recent timezone change in both sides of Cyprus (if there was any recent change at all)?

Answer 1

Cyprus, Greece and Turkey have all been using the same timezone, EET (Eastern European Timezone), which is UTC+2 (and UTC+3 at "summer", Daylight Saving).

I guess what you have heard is related to the announcement of the Turkish government to stop the daylight saving changes and fix the country's timezone to UTC+3 (the EET's daylight saving timezone).
From www.timetemperature.com/europe/turkey_time_zone:

Daylight Saving End Date

The government of Turkey has announced that the country will remain on daylight saving time year round.

Previously Turkey was scheduled to end Daylight Saving Time on Sunday October 30, 2016 at 4:00 AM local time.

I'm not sure whether the northern part of Cyprus will follow with a similar decision or not but according to the same site, it will: 2016 Time Zones - Kyrenia

Year  Date & Time   Abbreviation    Time Change Offset After
2010  Sun, 28 Mar, 03:00  EET → EEST    +1 hour (DST start)    UTC+3h
      Sun, 31 Oct, 04:00  EST → EET   -1 hour (DST end)      UTC+2h
2011  Sun, 27 Mar, 03:00  EET → EEST    +1 hour (DST start)    UTC+3h
      Sun, 30 Oct, 04:00  EEST → EET  -1 hour (DST end)      UTC+2h
2012  Sun, 25 Mar, 03:00  EET → EEST    +1 hour (DST start)    UTC+3h
      Sun, 28 Oct, 04:00  EEST → EET  -1 hour (DST end)      UTC+2h
2013  Sun, 31 Mar, 03:00  EET → EEST    +1 hour (DST start)    UTC+3h
      Sun, 27 Oct, 04:00  EEST → EET  -1 hour (DST end)      UTC+2h
2014  Sun, 30 Mar, 03:00  EET → EEST    +1 hour (DST start)    UTC+3h
      Sun, 26 Oct, 04:00  EEST → EET  -1 hour (DST end)      UTC+2h
2015  Sun, 29 Mar, 03:00  EET → EEST    +1 hour (DST start)    UTC+3h
      Sun, 25 Oct, 04:00  EEST → EET  -1 hour (DST end)      UTC+2h
2016  Sun, 27 Mar, 03:00  EET → EEST    +1 hour (DST start) | Probable date
                                                               UTC+3h
      Thu,  8 Sep, 00:00  EEST → TRT  No offset (DST end, TZ change) | Probable date
                                                               UTC+3h
2017 — 2019  No known changes, UTC +3 hours all of the period

And also according to this news post:
Cyprus to have two time zones, north to follow Turkey in refusing to turn clocks back

Cyprus will have two time zones, an hour apart, as of October 31, after the Turkish Cypriot ‘parliament’ decided on Thursday to follow Turkey’s example and not return to daylight-saving time.

Turkey has decided not to turn its clocks back an hour next month when daylight-saving time comes into effect on October 30.

Later in the day it was reported that the Turkish Cypriot side would follow the same example which will leave them an hour ahead of their Greek Cypriot compatriots on the other side of the Green Line going into October 31.

CNA reported that after a meeting of the Turkish Cypriot ‘parliament’ on Thursday the north decided to stick with summer time.

Last year Turkey waited a week to fall in line with the rest of the world for a period of around a week before changing to daylight saving time, causing frustration both in Turkey and in the north as computers and smartphones automatically dialled back an hour.

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