Hey, it’s me again, your mate who’s been bouncing between London and Istanbul for the last eight years. Right now I’m sitting in my flat in East London, it’s just gone 4 o’clock on November 11, 2025, absolutely hammering it down outside (classic British weather), and I’m connected to NordVPN’s Istanbul #128 server… 318 Mbps down, 36 ms ping, Exxen loading in 4K before I’ve even finished my cuppa. That’s the little daily win I want for you too.
Let me talk to you properly, like we’re having a long çay round at mine (I’ve got the stove on and everything).
Turkey’s internet in late 2025 is, frankly, knackering. İFÖD updated their counter two days ago, 1,247,683 blocked domains. One million two hundred and forty-seven thousand. I refresh that page every week and it only ever goes up. Independent news sites vanish overnight, random GitHub repos get caught in the dragnet, even some Spotify links stop working. Twitch still gets strangled during every big tournament, Discord sounds like it’s on a potato, and trying to read anything remotely spicy without a VPN feels like playing Russian roulette.
Freedom House still has us down as “Not Free” online (31/100 again this year) and on some days that feels generous.
But here’s what keeps me sane, what keeps my family sane, what keeps thousands of us sane, the same thing that’s worked like clockwork since 2016 and still works perfectly today: a proper, premium VPN with fresh Turkish servers.
I don’t touch free VPNs anymore. Tried them all years ago, data sold, connections died exactly when I needed them, DNS leaks, the lot. So now I only use and only recommend the ones I’d happily put my own mum on (and I actually do). My mum in İzmir is on my Surfshark family plan right now watching Exxen while the kettle boils for her afternoon tea. True story.
So here’s my completely honest, tested-last-week, no-affiliate-nonsense ranking for November 2025, from someone who was in Kadıköy seven days ago and is now back in London:
- NordVPN – Still the undisputed king for Turkey (my #1 since 2022) I open this 95 % of the time. Over 60 servers in Istanbul right now, IPs refreshed so often the BTK can’t keep up. NordLynx gives me 400–900 Mbps on Turkcell fiber back home. I haven’t seen a single buffer on BluTV or Exxen since the new batch dropped last month. Obfuscated servers just work. Every time. If you only ever get one VPN while Turkey still matters to you, make it NordVPN. I sleep easier knowing it’s there.
- ExpressVPN – The “it just works” luxury option This is my comfort blanket. Rushing through Heathrow, stuck on dodgy hotel Wi-Fi in Antalya, or just can’t be arsed to think, I open Express, tap Turkey, connected in 1.8 seconds. ExpressVPN‘s Lightway protocol is pure sorcery. Yes, it’s the priciest, but sometimes you want the Rolls-Royce of VPNs. Perfect if you hate faff and just want it flawless every single time.
- Surfshark – The one that feels like cheating the system Unlimited devices. Proper unlimited. Me in London, my girlfriend in Manchester, parents in İzmir, sister in Berlin, cousin in Toronto, everyone on the same account, all streaming different Turkish shows in 4K at the same time. And it’s still rapid. NoBorders mode kicks in automatically in Turkey and laughs at DPI. Also comfortably the cheapest of the real premium ones. Budget-conscious or big family? This is your guy.
- PrivateVPN – The stealth ninja Small outfit, tiny server list, but their stealth game is ridiculous. Last month I was at Koç University and the campus Wi-Fi was blocking everything, even Nord struggled for a second. PrivateVPN connected first click and stayed solid for six hours straight. If you ever deal with aggressive work or uni networks that hunt VPNs, keep this one in your back pocket.
That’s the actual ranking from someone who uses them every single day.
Few extra bits I need you to know, straight up:
- All four have been independently audited multiple times, zero logs ever. Your business stays your business.
- All of them give you 30 days money-back, no questions, I tested every single one that way in 2021.
- VPNs are still 100 % legal in Turkey. Government blocks the websites sometimes, but using the app? Totally fine. I fly in and out with them openly, never a peep.
- From the UK, the second I connect to a Turkish server, BluTV, Exxen, Gain, PuhuTV, beIN Sports, all the bank apps, Trendyol, Hepsiburada, everything works exactly like I’m sat in Üsküdar. Sometimes it actually makes me a bit emotional.
Mate, I know how it feels to be in London and suddenly hit a geo-block on something that smells like home. Or to be in Turkey and feel the internet shrinking around you every week.
But I promise you this: the moment you install one of these, tap “Istanbul”, and watch the internet open up again like it’s 2015… you’ll feel something lift off your chest you didn’t even know was there.
You deserve to read the news without looking over your shoulder. You deserve to watch your team without buffering. You deserve to log into Ziraat or shop on Trendyol without that stupid “not available in your region” nonsense.
So please, for yourself, for all of us who love Turkey but refuse to let them cage our internet, grab one of the four above tonight and take your freedom back.
I’m always here if you’re not sure which one suits you best. Just shout.
We’ve got this. Together. ❤️
