In Turkey, there are different iftar times during Ramadan because the country is very large — around 800,000 square kilometers. This means sunset, sunrise, and prayer times can vary from one province to another.
On the Black Sea coast, between the provinces of Samsun and Ordu, there’s a unique situation. There are two small villages separated by a road that’s only about 7 meters wide.
On one side of the road is the village of Ambar Tepe, which belongs to Samsun. On the other side is Şen Tepe, which belongs to Ordu. Each village has its own mosque, and the two mosques are less than 100 meters apart. But even though they’re so close, the Maghrib call to prayer (which signals iftar) can be one to two minutes different — and sometimes even more. The Şen Tepe mosque calls the adhan about one to one and a half minutes before the Ambar Tepe mosque.
This happens because each province in Turkey follows its own official prayer schedule. These schedules apply to all towns and villages in that province, even if they are very close to another province.
Despite the small time difference, people from both villages often visit each other during iftar. Many break their fast at their relatives’ or neighbors’ homes across the street. They also organize big community iftar tables in a festive atmosphere that brings most of the villagers together.
It’s worth noting that in the southern city of Şanlıurfa, people break their fast at around 6:20 PM, while in Istanbul, iftar is about half an hour later. This difference is normal considering the distance between the two cities is about 950 kilometers.
