diff --git setup.py.orig setup.py
index f09169f..d42c486 100644
--- setup.py.orig
+++ setup.py
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ if (platform.python_implementation() == 'CPython' and

 if setuptools is not None:
     # If setuptools is not available, you're on your own for dependencies.
-    install_requires = ['certifi']
+    install_requires = []
     if sys.version_info < (3, 2):
         install_requires.append('backports.ssl_match_hostname')
     kwargs['install_requires'] = install_requires
diff --git tornado/simple_httpclient.py.orig tornado/simple_httpclient.py
index f0f73fa..ffe3e40 100644
--- tornado/simple_httpclient.py.orig
+++ tornado/simple_httpclient.py
@@ -33,17 +33,9 @@ except ImportError:
     # ssl is not available on Google App Engine.
     ssl = None

-try:
-    import certifi
-except ImportError:
-    certifi = None
-

 def _default_ca_certs():
-    if certifi is None:
-        raise Exception("The 'certifi' package is required to use https "
-                        "in simple_httpclient")
-    return certifi.where()
+    return "/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt"


 class SimpleAsyncHTTPClient(AsyncHTTPClient):
diff --git tornado/test/iostream_test.py.orig tornado/test/iostream_test.py
index 01b0d95..47a64e7 100644
--- tornado/test/iostream_test.py.orig
+++ tornado/test/iostream_test.py
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ from tornado.stack_context import NullContext
 from tornado.testing import AsyncHTTPTestCase, AsyncHTTPSTestCase, AsyncTestCase, bind_unused_port, ExpectLog, gen_test
 from tornado.test.util import unittest, skipIfNonUnix
 from tornado.web import RequestHandler, Application
-import certifi
 import errno
 import logging
 import os
@@ -855,7 +854,7 @@ class TestIOStreamStartTLS(AsyncTestCase):
     def test_handshake_fail(self):
         self.server_start_tls(_server_ssl_options())
         client_future = self.client_start_tls(
-            dict(cert_reqs=ssl.CERT_REQUIRED, ca_certs=certifi.where()))
+            dict(cert_reqs=ssl.CERT_REQUIRED, ca_certs="/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt"))
         with ExpectLog(gen_log, "SSL Error"):
             with self.assertRaises(ssl.SSLError):
                 yield client_future