Connectivity — Turkey
What travelers need to know about connectivity in Turkey. What is legal at home can be a serious crime here — each rule links to its official source.
Connectivity in Turkey: allowed only under specific conditions.
A phone you bring into Turkey works on a Turkish SIM for only 120 days from your date of entry; after that it is cut off from the network unless its IMEI has been registered and the registration fee paid. Registration is made through the e-Devlet portal, and foreigners who cannot use e-Devlet register at a Turkcell, Vodafone or Türk Telekom Mobil subscriber centre. BTK publishes the fee as 20,000 TL on its MCKS page dated 1 July 2026. One device may be registered per passport, and only if that passport has not been used for a device registration in the previous three calendar years. BTK's two official pages disagree on the deadline - its consumer site says the device is cut off if it is not registered within 120 days, while MCKS says registration must be completed within 365 days of entry - so plan on the 120-day limit. A roaming SIM from your home operator is not affected.
No fine is stated; the sanction is technical - an unregistered device is cut off from Turkish mobile networks. The right to register lapses if the application is not made within 365 days of the entry recorded in the passport, and a passport used for a registration cannot be used again for three calendar years.
§ Republic of Türkiye, Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) - Mobil Cihaz Kayıt Sistemi (MCKS), Kayıt Yöntemleri / Yurt Dışından Getirilen Cihazlar, page dated 01/07/2026Verified Oct 4, 2026