Further-eastern European Time facts for kids

Further-eastern European Time (FET) is a special time zone. It's also known as Moscow Time (MSK) or Turkey Time (TRT). Since September 2011, this time zone is three hours ahead of UTC (which is like the world's main clock). We write this as UTC+03:00.

This time zone first became official for the Russian region called Kaliningrad Oblast. Later, other countries and regions started using it too. These include Belarus, Northern Cyprus, and Turkey.

How Time Zones Work

A time zone is a region that uses the same standard time. The world is divided into these zones. This helps everyone know what time it is in different places. It makes things like travel and communication much easier. UTC is the main time standard that all other time zones are based on.

The Big Change in 2011

Before 2011, Further-eastern European Time was the same as Eastern European Time. This meant it was UTC+2. But things changed on March 27, 2011. Russia decided to switch to "year-round daylight saving time." This meant they stayed on a later time all year. They did not change their clocks back in autumn.

Belarus followed Russia's lead on September 15, 2011. They also adopted this new time. Later, Turkey and Northern Cyprus made a similar change. On September 7, 2016, they stopped using DST (when clocks move forward for summer). Instead, they permanently switched to FET. However, on October 29, 2017, Northern Cyprus decided to go back to Eastern European Time (EET).

Countries and Regions Using FET

The Further-eastern European Time zone is used in several places. These include:

• Russia: Specifically, the Kaliningrad Oblast region.
• Belarus: The entire country uses FET.
• Turkey: The whole country also uses FET.

These places keep their clocks three hours ahead of UTC all year. They do not change for daylight saving.

Images for kids

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  UTC+03:00 – 2011: orange (DST Northern Hemisphere), yellow (year-round), light blue (sea areas)

See also

In Spanish: UTC+03:00 para niños