As we recently reported, Türkiye seems to be throttling access to some of the best VPN apps. The move allegedly came as these services become important for both citizens and visitors trying to use Instagram, which has been blocked since last Friday, August 2, 2024.
While it is true that Turkish authorities have been cracking down against some VPN providers, Ali Safa Korkut, a Turkish journalist and Project Coordinator at Free Web Turkey, believes the blocking of these Turkey VPNs isn't exactly part of a new wave of internet disruptions.
"Currently, because the majority of VPN services are banned, people are having difficulty accessing Instagram," Korkut told me. "But this is not a new development."
Türkiye'den erişime engelli VPN servislerinin listesi: https://t.co/ttaery0W4m pic.twitter.com/OQHpGoHa5tAugust 4, 2024
Korkut explains that 16 of the providers affected (see tweet above) were actually blocked during a wave of VPN bans in December 2023. These include some of TechRadar's top recommendations, such as ProtonVPN, Surfshark, IPVanish, and CyberGhost.
"In addition to these 16 VPN services, 11 other VPN services were also blocked from access in Turkey at different times in the past," Korkut added.
Surfshark also confirmed that some of its users have been experiencing service disruption in Turkey since the end of last year.
"After the recent news of Instagram being blocked, we have not registered any increase in attempts to block our service, but we are closely monitoring the situation in case that changes," Justas Pukys, VPN product manager at Surfshark, told me.
Can you still use a VPN in Turkey?
With the Instagram block remaining in place at the time of writing, chances are high you're currently looking for a way to evade the ban - whether you live or planning to visit the country soon.
So far, it looks like people in Türkiye have successfully managed to use some of the VPN apps affected. The providers I talked to - NordVPN, ExpressVPN, ProtonVPN, Surfshark, and Private Internet Access (PIA) - actually observed a major increase in site traffic from the country and sign-ups, with no signs of new restrictions.
Virtual private network (VPN) is security software that, while encrypting your internet connections, also spoofs your IP address location. Such a skill enables you to grant access to otherwise geo-restricted content. That's exactly something that authorities, in Türkiye and some other countries with high online censorship levels, often try to prevent.
If you're visiting the country from abroad, I suggest downloading your chosen VPN app before entering the country to avoid any issues.
Either way, signing up for as many services as possible is advantageous so you can hop between apps in case certain VPNs stop working. I recommend having a look at our dedicated page of the best free VPNs to get only the most secure freebies.
Connecting to your VPN app via the Tor Browser can also help you bypass restrictions. The connections may be slower - Tor reroutes traffic via three encrypted layers, in fact - but it's worth it if you cannot make your VPN work otherwise.
If all the above aren't working, Korkut suggests trying to change your DNS. "Many people are currently trying to access Instagram using this method," he said.
Pukys also invites everyone struggling to use Surfshark apps to contact the provider's 24/7 customer support, "who will try to help in establishing a lost connection."
