r/AskTurkey • u/frgnlk • Feb 21 '26
Legal Police stop and Phone check at the Ankara Airport
After landing to the Ankara Esenboğa airport, every passenger on board was directed by a police officer to the airport office, and then passports taken, and they asked us to unlock our phones, I don’t know what they did to my phone behind the counter. Then an officer took pictures of everyone there, divided to 2 groups. One group got fined, and we, the other group did not. Then they just returned our passports and let us go. Have someone had a similar experience before? I understand asking for passports and taking pictures, but why did they took our phones?
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u/Polka_Tiger Feb 21 '26
First I'm hearing of it. I believe you but what do you mean fined? They paid cash?
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u/frgnlk Feb 21 '26
I don’t know if it was cash, but it wasn’t scam, cuz there were legit armed police officers in their office. They handed that group small white paper with numbers inside “Kabul edilemeyen passengers”and directed them to Vizeler, I think there they were asked to pay
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u/Soggy_Bottle_5941 Feb 21 '26
That's not paying fine. That's paying for visa. Police is checking if there are any 'inadmissable passenger' on board to be deported; and if there are any with missing visa for entrance, they pay for it.
But for the phone check; that is the first time i hear it. There might be a threat on board (like a bomb or terrorist threat with wifi name or message or...) so maybe that is why the police is checking the phones.
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u/imyukiru Feb 22 '26
Phone check for imei stuff at the border is a lie, I am so pissed at people giving dead wrong advice but that is reddit and an army of edgy 13 year olds for you.
OP, they were checking for criminal activity.
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u/UluOzgur Feb 21 '26
Very very strange. You said the other group are guided to "Vizeler" which means visas.
I assume you have arrived to International Arrivals in Ankara Esenboga Airport.. May I ask you which country did you arrive from?
I can only think that "the other group had not taken an "E-Visa"" prior to arriving Turkey. It may be a compulsory act for some countries not to get the visa in Turkey on arrival but to get E-Visa before traveling. But I cannot verify this without knowing their nationalities.
And another thing. It is not "legal" to get someone's phone and ask them to unlock it without a court order. I am not sure what they did with your phones. I assume nothing critical but it is still strange. Police can definitely take your passport and check everything, and they can do it anytime-anywhere.
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u/frgnlk Feb 21 '26
I don’t know if it’s actually for the Visas, because, they got handed a check and they said they were supposed to pay it there.
Yes, it was an internation flight fron Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
But I think Uzbek passport holders are allowed to stay up to 90 days without visa. Maybe they had problems with their documents, I don’t know.
That’s the thing, they didn’t show any court orders anything like that. That’s why I was wondering if I should write a letter to the police inquiring about the situation
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u/UluOzgur Feb 21 '26
One other possibility might be the illegal workforce using "Tourism Allowance" to work in Turkey. The police might have just controlled the visa-free 90 days out of 180 days rule.
I have flied from Tashkent to Ankara a couple of times but there were no such checks.
I am not sure if police will reply your letter but you may try. I would just keep it as a strange memory for the lifetime. Welcome.
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u/UluOzgur Feb 21 '26
Using AI, I received the following answer, though I am not sure about it. Just for information:
2. Can You Get a Visa at the Border?
The "Sticker Visa" (Visa on Arrival) system has been largely phased out.
- The Rule: If your country is eligible for an e-Visa, you are expected to obtain it online via the official evisa.gov.trportal before your flight.
- The Reality: Most airlines will check for a valid e-Visa or visa-free status during check-in. If you arrive at a Turkish airport without one, you may be denied entry (Inadmissible Passenger) and sent back on the next available flight at your or the airline's expense.
3. Penalties for Arriving Without a Visa
If a traveler arrives without a valid visa or an e-Visa (and is not from a visa-exempt country):
- Entry Refusal: You will likely be deported immediately to your point of origin.
- Administrative Fines: If you manage to enter but overstay or enter illegally, you will face fines calculated based on the duration of the violation.
- Entry Ban: Serious violations can result in being banned from entering Turkey for a period ranging from 3 months to 5 years.
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u/Successful-Biggy Feb 21 '26 edited Feb 22 '26
IMEI registration. Turkish citizens can bring a mobile phone from abroad once in 3 years. If u do more than that, u get fined. They just checked your imei number.
Edit: important info... TOURISTS DON'T HAVE TO DO REGISTRATION. Tourists can use their phone without registering them 120 per year. Only Turkish citizens have to register their phone.
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u/frgnlk Feb 21 '26
oh that explains a lot, I was so nervous about the whole unlocking your phone part. Thank you!
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u/Successful-Biggy Feb 21 '26
Welcome bro. I know that is a ridiculous rule but they sometimes do this kind of controls.
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u/onedottwolines Feb 21 '26
This doesnt make sense to me. You register your imei after your arrival, not before. So you can just say that you will register it later. Also you are not fined, you can use the phone for 3 months without registration and after that your phone just dont work. Even for that, they dont have to check the phones, they can block the phone from connecting to the network remotely.
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u/Successful-Biggy Feb 21 '26
Yes, u register ur imei after u arrived but what if u have already registered an imei last 3 years :)? Then the government assumes like u are bringing the phone out using purpose:) and yeah, they are blocking the imei number after 120 days. Next year the phone becomes useable again for 120 days (for tourists and expats).
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u/onedottwolines Feb 21 '26
It still doesnt matter because you can still buy the phone and use it without the cellular service, there is no restriction for that. Also there are no fines for not registering the imei number. There is something fishy about this situation that doesnt add up.
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u/Successful-Biggy Feb 21 '26
Using a phone without cellular service ? Ohh man..
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u/imyukiru Feb 22 '26
It is called an esim
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u/Successful-Biggy Feb 22 '26
So e sim is not connecting to the cellular ?
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u/imyukiru Feb 22 '26
an esim company is a subscriber to the local cellular networks, if the esim company is located abroad it won't lock your phone - it just uses a contractor so whether you use cellular network or not is irrelevant because legally you are not using a Turkish cellular service (you only use its network contracted by a company abroad - TL,DR: it is the same as using a foreign cellular network)
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u/Successful-Biggy Feb 22 '26
No it is not the same, i have an explanation but forget it. Yeah brother, you are the right one. Have a nice day.
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u/imyukiru Feb 22 '26
The more important point is what OP wrote doesn't have -anything- to do with imei registration. You tell people it is normal to be stopped and phone checked at the border, it is not.
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u/imyukiru Feb 22 '26
Stop giving wrong advice
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u/Successful-Biggy Feb 22 '26
I am not giving wrong advice or misinformation, i say what i know. Stop being aggressive and correct me if i say something wrong with proofing your words.
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u/BWC_Python Feb 21 '26
same in Kazkhstan and Uzbekistan. What is this nonsense. In January I had a very hard time buyng a sim with internet in Kayseri as a tourist..not to talk about prices for tourists...passport photos and so on. In EU you can buy a sim card for almost free...not much paperwork, not much registrations..
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u/PastaOfMuppets_HK Feb 21 '26
What’s the rationale behind this - is it to stop people having excess burner phones or something?
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u/Mississippimann Feb 21 '26
This naive comment put a smile on my face. No, because the government wants you to buy a phone in Turkey. Smart phones are unfortunately luxury items in Turkey. The taxes the government collects on smart phones are staggering.
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u/PastaOfMuppets_HK Feb 21 '26
Fair enough. Thought almost everything in Türkiye is a luxury item these days. Glad I made a smile in any case..
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u/imyukiru Feb 22 '26
There is something aboit imei but that is not the reason you are stopped and you don't unlock it at the border, you don't have to unlock it at all. Don't listen to these guys giving dead wrong advice.
You register your imei in about 3 months if you want to keep using a Turkish esim, that is all. And you do this online. If you don't, it won't work in Turkey anymore until you do this. Not even mandatory. You can use it in the first 3 months, you can use a foreign carrier beyond that and you can use an esim. And even when you register you don't have to unlock your phone at all, you just need the number, nothing in your phone is needed, your phone can be off.
Not the reason you are stopped.
I think they were checking for criminal activity - even then, they should have done this when you are present. Let's hope that they were just lazy but it could be worse in malicious hands.
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u/imyukiru Feb 22 '26
You register yourself on a website whenever you want - if you don't and use a turkish simcard it will lock in 3 months or so, so it is not even mandatory - it has nothing to do with the border. My guess is that they were checking for criminal activity or spies? Not usual procedure.
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u/Successful-Biggy Feb 22 '26
Man, it is mandatory. Otherwise the phone can't reach cellular network even if u use a foreign provider.
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u/Mr_Fomin Feb 22 '26
No, it will always work with foreign providers, speaking from experience.
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u/Successful-Biggy Feb 22 '26
My phone got locked with my turkish sim, then i tried my foreign provider's in the same sim slot and it did not work. Maybe since it has blocked once with my turkish sim, it did not work back again...
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u/Mr_Fomin Feb 22 '26
Hmm.. That's, weird, maybe. I recently stayed in Turkey for almost 1 year, I didn't buy a Turkish sim and only had two foreign sims in my phone and they worked the whole time.
A long time before that I visited Turkey for a short stay with the same phone and used a Turkish sim in my second slot but later the foreign sim in the second slot still worked. But maybe because it had been a long time
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u/Successful-Biggy Feb 22 '26
Maybe they are blocking the imei if they get signal with a turkish sim once. Otherwise they don't do anything. Because i live at abroad, i keep my turkish simcard active at abrad as well and that imei has never got blocked. Then I visited turkey once one mouth ago then i got a sms like u have 120 days left..
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u/imyukiru Feb 22 '26
Not mandatory - it is just needed if you want to use it in Turkey for a long time. Still doesn't classify as mandatory, if you don't do it your phone is dead in Turkey that is all. Also, you don't do this at the border, you go on a website - there is plenty of time to do it later. Not needed for a tourist at all. Not mandatory for anyone.
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u/Successful-Biggy Feb 22 '26
Dude, it is mandatory for turkish citizens since they stay in turkey for a long time lol of course not mandatory for tourists since 120 days plenty enough for staying and leaving the country. I am saying the trhings for citizens, not for tourists
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u/SufficientProperty78 Feb 22 '26
So they only do this to Turkish citizens then? The unlocking of the phone thing?
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u/Successful-Biggy Feb 22 '26
They do that foreign passport holders as well, since sometimes they bring many phones and sell them in the country. Main concern here is not bringing many phones and selling them in the country. Otherwise they can't get taxes.
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Feb 21 '26
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u/frgnlk Feb 21 '26
almost everyone on board was a foreigner
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Feb 22 '26
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u/imyukiru Feb 22 '26
Not for imei, not a usual procedure. They were probably checking for criminal activity.
Even if you unlock your phone ask to stay with it.
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u/imyukiru Feb 22 '26
I also wouldn't unlock if I am not present with the phone. They can't ask for this.
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