Yes. No law in Turkey makes using a VPN a crime, and a great many people there use one. Two separate things confuse the picture, so it helps to take them apart.
The first is Law No. 5651, which lets authorities restrict access to sites and platforms, in some cases without waiting for a court. Restrictions in Turkey tend to be short and tied to events rather than permanent:
The second is that access to the websites of a number of VPN providers has itself been restricted, 27 of them by one count in 2025. That is a block on a download page, not on the software already installed on your device.
Which leads to the only practical advice on this page worth memorising: install your VPN before you need it. Restrictions arrive within minutes of the news, and that is the worst possible moment to go looking for a download page that may not open. The Browsec extension installs from the Chrome Web Store, a different address from our own site, and once it is in your browser it stays there.
One honest note. No provider can promise that every connection will always get through, and anyone who does is overselling. What is true is that a VPN already installed and working is worth a great deal more than one you plan to install later.
The first is Law No. 5651, which lets authorities restrict access to sites and platforms, in some cases without waiting for a court. Restrictions in Turkey tend to be short and tied to events rather than permanent:
- October 2024: X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok were restricted after the attack on Turkish Aerospace Industries in Ankara
- 19 March 2025: the same platforms plus WhatsApp were restricted following the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul. Access returned roughly 42 hours later, and one provider reported signups up more than tenfold across those days
The second is that access to the websites of a number of VPN providers has itself been restricted, 27 of them by one count in 2025. That is a block on a download page, not on the software already installed on your device.
Which leads to the only practical advice on this page worth memorising: install your VPN before you need it. Restrictions arrive within minutes of the news, and that is the worst possible moment to go looking for a download page that may not open. The Browsec extension installs from the Chrome Web Store, a different address from our own site, and once it is in your browser it stays there.
One honest note. No provider can promise that every connection will always get through, and anyone who does is overselling. What is true is that a VPN already installed and working is worth a great deal more than one you plan to install later.
