Amid social media bans and political unrest, Apple will open its first store in Turkey on April 5.
The company announced on Friday that the Apple Store will be located in Istanbul's Zorlu Center mall. It will send emails to customers in the country and launch a retail website advertising the opening date, as first reported by Webrazzi.
The opening comes in the midst of political turmoil in the country. Turkey banned Twitter last week and blocked access to YouTube on Thursday, as key local elections approach.
Despite the bans, Turks have yet to take the streets en masse like they did last summer in the protests known as Occupy Gezi. But some expect demonstrations to begin any moment. For that reason, Apple has told its employees at the Istanbul Apple Store, most of whom are American, to remain indoors on Sunday, the day of the elections, according to 9to5Mac.