터키 ‘썸머타임’ 연장, 투표독려 혹은 꼼수?···SNS선 ‘에르도안 표준시’ 유행어 확산
* ‘아시아엔’ 연수 외국기자가 작성한 기사의 한글요약본과 원문을 함께 게재합니다.
[아시아엔=라드와 아시라프 기자·번역 최정아 기자] 지난 24일(현지시간) 미국과 유럽의 ‘썸머타임’이 끝나 1시간 앞당겨졌던 시계바늘이 다시 제자리를 찾았지만, 터키만은 그대로 썸머타임을 유지하기로 했다. 바로 조기총선이 치러질 11월1일 때문이다.
이에 대해 알리 리자 알라보윤 에너지장관은 “시민들의 안전과 총선 선거유세를 위해 썸머타임을 연장하는 것이 좋다고 판단했다”며 “이번 썸머타임 연장은 투표기간동안 선거 시간을 늘리기 위한 것으로, 터키 시민들이 더욱 안전하고 쉽게 투표를 행사할 수 있다”고 말했다.
하지만 갑작스런 썸머타임 연장으로 혼란에 빠진 터키 국민들은 정부에 노골적으로 불만을 표하고 있으며, 심지어 페이스북과 트위터등 SNS에선 레제프 타이이프 에르도안 터키 대통령을 비꼬는 ‘에르도안 표준시’라는 유행어가 돌고 있을 정도다. 한 네티즌은 “최근 들어 터키인들이 만나면 인사 대신 ‘지금 몇 시죠?’라고 묻는다”며 “터키가 사상 처음으로 대동단결했다”고 트위터를 통해 조롱했다.
Turkey clocks defy time-change delay
For those in Europe and the US, Saturday night marked the end of the daylight saving time, but the Turkish government delayed the time change by two weeks this year, in light of the upcoming parliamentary elections on 1 November.
Along with countries in the Eastern European Time (EET) zone such as Bulgaria, Lithuania and Ukraine, and countries elsewhere, Turkey had been expected to add an hour to Sunday at the end of daylight saving time.
But when millions of Turks woke up to a confusing morning on Sunday (24 October) they found out their smartphones, tablets, and computers had automatically updated in keeping with other countries in the Eastern European Time zone, even though Turkey delayed setting clocks back an hour for the next two weeks, as reported by International Business Times.
Energy Minister Ali Riza Alaboyun said that Turkish capital Ankara wanted the nights to stay lighter in the evening in order to monitor public safety during the campaign and election period. The delay will ensure that there will be daylight during the opening hours of the vote, thus making it easier and safer for the Turks to cast their votes in the early hours of the day.
In a statement, the Information Technologies and Communications Authority (BTK) warned citizens to manually adjust the time settings on their smartphones and other electronic devices in order to avoid confusion.
The Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah reported that the time change delay meant that Muslim prayer times on printed calendars would be rendered inaccurate, according to IBT.
Turkish citizens took to Twitter protesting this confusion with hashtag #saatkac or “what’s the time now?”, as it becomes a trending topic across the internet.
Some people blamed it on Turkey’s president Erdogan, as one user said, “For the next two weeks #Turkey is on EEST… Erdogan Engineered Standard Time.” While another user said, “Turkey united for the first time around one question today: what time is it?”
This is the third time in the last five years that the clocks have been delayed in Turkey according to the Independent. The start of daylight savings was put off due to local elections in 2014, and was delayed in 2011 due to a nationwide exam.