Best VPN for Turkey: Simulate a Turkish IP

VPNs don't just protect your online anonymity by encrypting your Internet traffic. They also conceal your real IP address and allow you to change it to that of a different country, like Turkey. After you've done this, Internet services and resources will think that you're actually visiting from the land of four seasons.

But why would someone want to simulate a Turkish IP, and which VPN providers are best for doing so? We'll answer all of these questions and more in this article.

Many Turkish websites and services are only available to those accessing them from Turkish IP addresses.

For public or state television content, this is because the usage or licensing rights only cover Turkey, and a user's location is determined on the basis of their IP address. Should you be in a country that isn't covered by the license, you won't be able to access the media or resource in question.

This is more commonly known as geoblocking and can be overcome with the help of a VPN since these can simulate a Turkish IP address. VPN users get a number of other benefits as well: Streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or Disney+ offer different content in Turkey, and subscriptions cost less than in Europe or North America.

This advantage extends to other downloadable offers like video games, audiobooks, or e-books. More details about how regional restrictions work, as well as tips for getting around them, can be found in our geoblocking guide.

In our EXPERTE.com VPN comparison, we took a close look at 27 different providers, putting each through a tough battery of tests.

To determine which is best for accessing Turkish content from outside of the country, we re-examined our results, paying attention to the number of Turkish servers they offer, as well as their security and connection speeds.

NordVPN is one of the leading VPN services and took first place in our overall assessment. The provider has 14 servers in Turkey, which, when combined with its excellent price-performance ratio, easily made it our top pick for consuming Turkish content and services from abroad.

NordVPN's servers are known for their high performance and security standards. The company's vetted no-log policy is another advantage since this guarantees that they won't monitor and save reports of your Internet activity. So long as you're able to make do without comprehensive protocol options, you'll find that NordVPN offers a fast, safe, reliable, and fairly priced VPN.

ProtonVPN is a relatively new open-source solution hailing from Switzerland. Developed by CERN scientists, the VPN offers a solid server network, five of which are located in Turkey.

Fast connections, a high level of security, and ease of use make ProtonVPN a solid choice for accessing Turkish content and services. Thanks to its strict and tested no-log policy, ProtonVPN also guarantees that your activities will not be monitored.

ExpressVPN is one of the most well-known VPN solutions on the market. The service doesn't only specialize in speed (as its name suggests), but also, across the board. The only downside is its price, which is fairly high compared to its competitors.

With more than 3,000 server locations across 94 countries, ExpressVPN has one of the largest server networks out there, however, only one of these is located in Turkey. Unlike many other services, ExpressVPN focuses on the most important aspects of a VPN, making sure that its connections are as reliable as possible.

We didn't experience any disruptions or lost connections. According to the company, logs are not compiled, and speeds were continually fast. The variety of features offered by ExpressVPN could be somewhat wider, especially given its premium price.

Surfshark operates more than 3,200 servers across 65 countries. Don't let its low price fool you: The VPN is a solid choice for accessing Turkish content or services. Although it also only has a single server location in Turkey, it places a special emphasis on security.

Surfshark utilizes AES-256 encryption, which even the most gifted hacker in the world wouldn't be able to crack. When it comes to speed, users don't have to make any compromises either, with the provider racing to 2nd place in our performance test.

Speed and detailed settings options are the two calling cards of hide.me. Like ExpressVPN and Surfshark, it also only operates a server in Turkey, however, it impressed us with its solid speeds and comprehensive security features.

According to the provider, no logs or protocols are stored, meaning that user anonymity is consistently protected. Our only complaint was that during testing, we experienced occasional disruptions or connection loss. Hopefully, the service can improve on this in the future.

If you're outside of Turkey and would like to access Turkish websites and platforms, we can recommend any of the five services above. Each has servers in Turkey and did well in terms of server accessibility, speed, and security.

However, this doesn't necessarily apply to other countries, since the above Top 5 focused solely on Turkey. Below, you can see our overall VPN ranking:

The five VPNs listed above are all either premium services or limit access to Turkish servers to paying subscribers. There are free offers among our Top 5 (ProtonVPN and hide.me), however, neither these nor any of the other free versions from our larger list allow non-subscribers to connect to Turkey.

As such, it isn't possible to use a free VPN to get a Turkish IP address. Most VPNs allow new users to try out their service for a limited period of time, but that's far from a permanent solution.

Should you need access to Turkish Internet content outside of Turkey, there's no way around a paid VPN.

Broadly speaking, VPN use is allowed in Turkey. However, Turkish authorities have begun to take steps against VPN providers and limit access to their websites. Should you want to use a VPN in Turkey, we recommend downloading and installing it prior to your arrival.

With any of our Top 5 VPNs for Turkey, you can surf the Internet as though you were sitting on the Bosporus. This provides several advantages: You can circumvent geoblocking and read local newspapers or stream Turkish films and series. Alternatively, you might save some money shopping online when using a Turkish IP address.

When it comes to VPNs, conditions and advantages vary from country to country: We've compiled lists of the best VPNs for the US and Germany. For comprehensive reviews of all 27 VPNs from our sample, be sure to check out our EXPERTE.com VPN test.