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Full country name: Republic of Turkey
Area: 779,452 sq km
Population: 68.1 million
Capital City: Ankara (pop 3.7 million)
People: Turks (85%), Kurds (12%), other Islamic peoples, Armenians, Jews
Language: Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic, Armenian, Greek
Religion: Muslim (Sunni)
Government: republican parliamentary democracy
Head of State: President Abdullah Gul
Head of Government: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
GDP: US$183.7 million
GDP per capita: US$2,490
Annual Growth: -5%
Inflation: 26%
Major Industries: Textiles, food processing, tourism, motor vehicles, mining, lumber, petroleum, construction.
Major trading partners: Germany, USA, Italy, UK, France, Russia
Member of EU: No
Events:
January: Camel-wrestling Festival, in the village of Selçuk.
April: National Sovereignty Day, a big holiday to celebrate the first meeting of the republican parliament in 1920.
June: Oiled wrestling festival in Sarayiçi, near Edirne.
July: Folklore and Music Festival, Bursa.
September: Watermelon Festival in Diyarbakir.
Currency:
Turkish Lira (TL)
Turkey is a low-budget destination. You can travel on as little as US$20 per day using buses and trains, staying in pensions, and eating one restaurant meal daily. For US$25 to US$40 you can travel on plusher buses, take well-cushioned train seats, stay in 1 and 2-star hotels and eat most meals in restaurants. In cheaper restaurants it’s not necessary to leave more than a few coins in the change plate. In more expensive restaurants, tipping is customary.
Beaten Track:
Gallipoli Peninsula
This strategic peninsula has seen many important battles, including the nine month ferocious combat between Ataturk’s troops and the Allies in WW I. Gallipoli is a fairly large area to tour, especially without your own transport. The two best bases for a visit are Çanakkale on the eastern shore, and Eceabat on the western, from which several companies run tours. The great battles of Gallipoli are commemorated each year during March (usually from the 12th to 19th) and it can be a bit tricky getting a hotel during this time.
Harran
Harran, in Kurdish southeastern Anatolia, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited spots on earth. The hills around the town are surrounded by crumbling walls and topped with ruined buildings and it all looks so deeply ancient that it’s not hard to believe Abraham was one of Harran’s early inhabitants. There’s a fortress on the eastern side of the town, and some good mosaics in the 8th century Ulu Cami (a mosque).
Today’s residents, some of whom still live in quaint beehive-shaped mud houses, get by on a mix of farming, smuggling and the sniff of wealth as water starts to filter through from the vast Southeast Anatolia Project (a dam). There’s not much in the way of accommodation in Harran; most visitors base themselves in Urfa, 37km (23mi) west, which has good bus connections to the rest of Turkey.
Troy
When amateur archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann excavated Troy in 1871, the pants of classical studies boffins around the world became decidedly damp. Up to this time, Homer’s Iliad was assumed to be based on legend, but post-digs, Troy becomes the Homeric city of Ilium, site of an epic battle between the Achaeans (Greeks) and the Trojans in the 13th century BC. Excavations by Schliemann and others have revealed nine ancient cities, one on top of another, dating back to 3000 BC. Troy VI (1800-1275 BC) is the city of Priam and the one that engaged in the Trojan War.
For aficionados this is all amazing, but unless you’ve read the Iliad, or have a keen appreciation of archaeology, you may find little of interest in Troy. Apart from a hokey replica of the Trojan horse, there’s little to catch the amateur eye. That said, this is the site of one of the world’s grandest tales, so soaking up the atmosphere should be just about enough. Troy is a 30km (19mi) dolmus ride from Çanakkale, which is linked by buses to most Turkish cities.
History:
Turkey’s history can be traced back to 7500 BC. The first great civilisation was that of the Hittites, who worshipped a sun goddess and a storm god. A big invasion of ‘sea peoples’ from Greek islands put untenable pressure on the Hittites. Cyrus, emperor of Persia (550-530 BC) swept into Anatolia from the east. The Persians were booted out by Alexander the Great around 330 BC. The Galatians (Celts) established a capital at Ankara in 279 BC, bedding down comfortably with the Seleucid, Pontic, Pergamum and Armenian kingdoms.
Roman rule brought relative peace and prosperity for almost three centuries, providing perfect conditions for the spread of Christianity. The Roman Empire weakened from around 250 AD until Constantine reunited it in 324. He oversaw the building of a new capital, the great city that came to be called Constantinople. Justinian (527-65) brought the eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire to its greatest strength, reconquering Italy, the Balkans, Anatolia and North Africa.
In 669-78, the armies of Islam were threatening the walls of Constantinople, having conquered everything and everybody from there to Mecca, plus Persia and Egypt. The Islamic dynasties which emerged after Mohammed challenged the power and status of Byzantium. But the Great Seljuk Turkish Empire of the 11th century was the first to rule what is now Turkey, Iran and Iraq. The Seljuks were shaken by the Crusades and overrun by Mongol hordes, but they hung onto power until the vigorous, ambitious Ottomans came along.
The Ottoman Empire began as the banding together of late 13th century Turkish warriors fleeing the Mongols. By 1453 the Ottomans under Mehmet the Conqueror were strong enough to take Constantinople. Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent (1520-66) oversaw the apogee of the empire: beautifying Constantinople, rebuilding Jerusalem and expanding the Ottomap to the gates of Vienna. But few of the sultans succeeding Suleyman were capable of great rule and the Ottoman Empire’s long, celebrated decline had begun by 1585.
By the 19th century, decline and misrule made ethnic nationalism very appealing. The European powers hovered vulture-like over the disintegrating empire, while within Turkey various disastrous attempts to revivify the country were undone by the unfortunate decision to side with Germany in WW I. In 1918, the victorious Allies set to carving up Turkey.
At this point Ottoman general Mustafa Kemal began to organise resistance, sure that a new government must seize the fate of Turkey for the Turkish people. When Greece invaded Smyrna and began pushing east, the Turks were shocked then galvanised into action. The War of Independence lasted 1920 from 1922, ending in a bitterly won Turkish victory and the abolition of the sultanate.
Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk or Father Turk) undertook the job of completely remaking Turkish society. By the time he died in 1938, a constitution had been adopted, polygamy abolished and the fez, mark of Ottoman backwardness, was prohibited. Islam was removed as the state religion, Constantinople became Istanbul and women obtained the right to vote. Ataturk remains a true hero in Turkey: his statue is everywhere and there are laws against defaming or insulting him.
Ataturk’s successor, Ismet Inonu managed a precarious neutrality in WW II, and then oversaw Turkey through the transition to a true democracy. The opposition Democratic Party won the election in 1950. In 1960, and again in 1970, an overreaching Democratic Party was brought back into line by watchful army officers, who deemed the government’s autocratic ways a violation of the constitution. In 1980 political infighting and civil unrest brought the country to a halt. Fringe groups caused havoc, supported on the one hand by the Soviet bloc and on the other by fanatical Muslim groups. In the center, the two major political parties were deadlocked so badly that for months they couldn’t elect a parliamentary president. The military stepped in again, to general relief, but at the price of strict control and some human rights abuses.
The head of the military government, General Kenan Evren, resigned his military commission and became Turkey’s new president. Free elections in 1983 saw Turgut ozal’s center-right party take power and oversee a business boom, which lasted through the 80s. ozal’s untimely death in 1993 removed a powerful force from Turkish politics and set the scene for uncertainty: the rest of the decade has seen unstable coalitions formed between unlikely bedfellows and resurgent support for the religious right.
Turkey’s recent history has been blackened by an unhappy human rights record, a shaky economy and the ongoing stoush with the Kurds. Turkey’s sparsely populated eastern and southeastern regions are home to 6 million Kurds; 4 million Kurds live elsewhere throughout the country, more or less integrated into Turkish society. Kurdish separatism is one of Turkey’s hottest issues.
Ankara has come around a little on how to deal with its Kurdish population, to the point that it nervously relaxed restrictions on Kurdish culture, but in early 1999, following the arrest of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan; the nation went on red alert. The situation has improved markedly. Ocalan’s group, Kurdistan Workers Party (the PKK), declared a ceasefire and there has been some liberalization of official attitudes to the Kurds.
Culture:
Environment:
Clockwise from the northwest, Turkey shares its borders with Greece, Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Iraq and Syria. It has mountains, rolling steppe, meandering rivers, rich agricultural valleys and a craggy, beachy 8400 km coastline.
There are considerable forests in northeastern Anatolia, the Black Sea area and along the Mediterranean coast, west of Antalya. Great swaths of wild flowers cover the steppes in spring making fine splashes of colour. Turkey has similar animal life to that in the Balkans and much of Europe: bears, deer, jackals, lynx, wild boars, wolves and rare leopards. The beautiful Van cat is a native: it has pure white fur and different-coloured eyes – one blue, one green.
You’re more likely to see cattle, horses, donkey, goats and sheep though. Turkish shepherds are proud of their powerful, fierce, Kangal sheep dogs, which guard the flocks from wolves. Bird life is exceptionally rich, with a squawking mess of eagles, vultures and storks staking out airspace, as well as rare species such as the bald ibis.
Getting There:
There are plenty of ways to get into and out of Turkey – by air, sea, rail and bus, across the borders of six countries. There are international airports at Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and some of the Mediterranean resorts. By train, the daily Istanbul Express links Istanbul to Munich, Slovenia, Croatia, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. Major European cities such as Frankfurt and Vienna are also well serviced by Turkish bus lines. There are daily train and bus connections between Athens and Istanbul via Thessaloniki.
Getting Around:
Turkish airlines link all major cities, including the busy Istanbul-Ankara corridor. Buses go everywhere in Turkey frequently, cheaply and usually comfortably. Trains have a hard time competing with long-distance buses for speed and comfort. But the sleeping-car trains linking Istanbul, Izmir and Ankara are good value. Driving in cities should be altogether avoided – traffic is terrible and parking impossible. Private dolmuses (shared taxis) are a good option for short trips.
Spring (April to June) and autumn (September to November) are best. The climate is perfect on the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts then, as well as in Istanbul. In high summer the coastal resorts are stinking hot. From late October to early April, the beach scene more or less shuts down. There’s little rain between May and October except along the Black Sea coast.
EPHESUS CITY
Ephesus City was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era. In the Roman period, Ephesus had a population of more than 250,000 in the 1st century BC, which also made it one of the largest cities in the Mediterranean world. The city was famed for the Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
IZMIR
Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. Ä°zmir has almost 3,500 years of recorded urban history (see Timeline of Ä°zmir) and possibly even longer as an advanced human settlement. Lying on an advantageous location at the head of a gulf running down in a deep indentation midway on the western Anatolian coast, the city has been one of the principal mercantile cities of the Mediterranean Sea for much of its history. Its port is Turkey’s primary port for exports in terms of the freight handled. Ä°zmir is widely regarded as one of the most progressive Turkish cities in terms of its values, lifestyle, dynamism and gender roles.
Ankara
There are touches of the mystical east if you know where to look but the vast majority of Ankara is fully 20th century. This is a huge university town and you’ll find the streets of Kizilay and the bars of Sakarya thronged with students for most of the year. Capital city status and the presence of language schools and universities has brought a sizeable ex pat community to Ankara.
A lot of foreigners are here on business but tourism is beginning to have an impact on various aspects of the city. A growing number of tour operators and related service industries are catering to tourists. There is accommodation here at all levels, with prices pegged below those of Istanbul or the south coast, and a new bus station (ASTI) is probably the most useful transport hub in Turkey.
Beaten Track:
Museum of Anatolian Civilization
There is a strong argument in favour of visiting this collection of exhibits before traveling anywhere else in Turkey. If you find yourself in Ankara and you’re in any way interested in the history of Asia Minor you should make your way here. The museum is housed in a charming building, a restored covered market dating from the 15th Century and is easily accessible from the center of town.
Museum of Ethnography
Between Ulus Meydani and the Sihhiye Bridge you’ll find the Museum of Ethnography perched above the busy highway in an attractive. It is one of the better of such museums in Turkey and the collection’s highlights include the circumcision room, some nice woodwork and fine calligraphy.
Old Turkish House Museum
The Ankara citadel is a jumble of tiny streets and ramshackle houses and was the heart of many of Ankara’s previous incarnations. One of these houses has been restored and opened as a museum and you’ll find it just inside the Parmak Kapisi, the gate that you come to if you approach the citadel from Samanpazari.
Railway Museum
The Railway Museum (Demiryollari – Iron Roads) is part of the main railway station, and will be of interest to those of you who like trains. The museum is open for visitors between 9 and 12 and between 1 and 5.
Old Locomotive Museum
This one is a little more fun. It’s basically a car park like area with scruffy looking trains scattered about, good for kids and anyone who likes old steam. Take a taxi to Achuk Hava Buharlu Lokomotif Muzesi from the Sihhiye bridge area.
War of Salvation Museum
This building was the first home of the National Assembly, before it’s move to the now Republic Museum. The events and faces of the War of Independence are portrayed here but captions are only in Turkish.
Museum of Painting and Sculpture
A major collection of modern Turkish painting, which may or may not be to your taste. The museum features the work of Osman Handi, Hikmet Onat, Turgut Zaim and Bedri Rahmi Eyuboglu amongst others. It is right next door to the Ethnography Museum.
You’ll find a wide range of shopping opportunities here and it’s one of the best places to buy carpets in Turkey. The old town, huddled in the shadow of the citadel has cheap fruit and vegetables, whole arcades of gold shops and a collection of antique and souvenir shops. Clothes can be a bargain here and although the price differential for leather is decreasing you should still be able to find a deal.
History:
Formerly known as Angora, it lies about 200 km south of the Black Sea, near the confluence of the Hatip, Ince Su, and aubek streams. While the date of the city’s foundation is uncertain, archaeological evidence indicates habitation at least since the Stone Age. Alexander the Great conquered Ankara in 334 BC, and in the 3rd century BC the town served as the capital of the Tectosages, a tribe of Galatia. In 25 BC Ankara was incorporated into the Roman Empire by the emperor Augustus.
Ankara was attacked by both the Persians and the Arabs. In about 1073 Ankara it fell to Seljuq Turks, but the crusader Raymond IV of Toulouse drove them out again in 1101. After 1143, Seljuq princes fought among themselves for possession of the city. With the establishment of the Seljuq Empire, Ankara declined.
In 1356 the city was captured by Orhan (Orkhan), the second sultan of the Ottoman dynasty, and it became a part of the Ottoman domains in 1360. Ankara was besieged during the Anatolian campaign of Timur (Tamerlane). In 1403 it again became subject to Ottoman rule and, in subsequent centuries, regained its importance as a commercial and urban center.
After World War I, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Turkish nationalist leader, made Ankara the center of the resistance movement against both the government of the Ottoman sultan and the invading Greek forces; he established his headquarters there in 1919. Ankara was declared the capital of Turkey in 1923.
The architecture of the city reflects its varied history. Remains from the Roman and Byzantine eras are found here. Government is the main business in the city, but Ankara is also Turkey’s second most important industrial city after Istanbul. Factories producing wine and beer, flour, sugar, macaroni products, biscuits, milk, cement, terrazzo (mosaic paving), construction materials, and tractors are well established. Service and tourist industries are expanding rapidly.
Istanbul
Istanbul’s history stretches from Byzantium to Constantinople to its place at the head of the Ottoman Empire. While strolling around the city, you can admire mosques, peer into the sultan’s harem and hunt for bargains in the Grand Bazaar. Side by side with Old Istanbul are hip bars and clubs, flashy executives, malls and haute cuisine. And then there is a rich arts culture – opera, music and cinema. The Bosphorus strait is a constantly busy, heaving mass, dotted with ships and ferries, and providing the link between Europe and Asia.
Area: 98 sq km
Population: 13 million
Country: Turkey
Time Zone: GMT/UTC +2 ((+3 in summer))
Telephone Area Code: 212 – European Istanbul; 216 – Asian Istanbul
Events:
April: International Ä°stanbul Film Festival.
May: Conquest of Constantinople celebrations.
July: International Ä°stanbul Music Festival and International Ä°stanbul Jazz Festival.
October: International Ä°stanbul Biennial.
Orientation:
The Bosphorus strait creates a natural north-south divide in Istanbul – European Istanbul comprises the bulk of the city to the west, while Asian Istanbul is to the east. The Old City is where you’ll find all the main sights, such as Topkapi Palace, Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmet Camii), Aya Sofya (Sancta Sophia), the Atmeydani (Hippodrome) and the old city walls. The 21st-century version of Istanbul is a short walk north across the Galata Bridge, and is exemplified by bustling Taksim Square, the eye of the city’s commercial activities.
There are clusters of budget places in the Sultanahmet district of the old city; Akbiyik Caddesi in Cankurtaran is the backpacker hub, other streets nearby are lower key. The heart of modern Istanbul, Taksim Square and Beyoglu, are also good places to stay, with lots of restaurants, theatres and shops nearby
When to go:
The best times of year to visit Istanbul are from April to June and September to October. These are roughly the months when spring and autumn descend on the city, respectively. The wintry months from November to February have the highest rainfall and it’s when spirits are most likely to be dampened.
Beaten Track:
Galat Mevlevihanesi (Whirling Dervish Hall)
This modest tekke (dervish lodge) was built in 1491 during the reign of Sultan Beyazit II and rebuilt in 1766 after a disastrous fire. In the middle of the city, the tekke is a calm and cool oasis; the flowers and shady nooks make it an ideal resting spot, while the graveyard with its graceful Ottoman inscriptions and odd-shaped headstones representing the headgear of the deceased (each hat denoting a different religious rank) adds an interesting dimension to any visit.
Whirling dervishes took their name from the great Sufi poet and mystic, Celaleddin Rumi (1207-73), called Mevlana (Our Leader) by his disciples; the major aim being mystical communication with God. But for the acolytes of Mevlana, it was more than just a matter of spinning for God; the entire sema (ceremony) involved chants, prayers and music before the Mevlevi tarakat whirled themselves into a trance-like union with the divine.
Yedikule (Fortress of the Seven Towers)
Yedikule began life as a triumphal arch in the late 4th century, but was then incorporated into the more ambitious plans of Theodosius, who built great land walls around the city and added four towers to the structure. The other three walls were built inside the wall by his successor, Mehmet the Conqueror.
The towers were multifunctional; not only did they help protect the city from attack but were also used as a treasury, a prison and a place of execution. Quite often they were used to accommodate hapless ambassadors from other non-favoured countries. The best view of the city walls and fortress is from the Tower of Sultan Ahmet III, and in some places it’s even possible to walk along the land walls.
aemberlitaa Hamama
The strange building with a row of street front shops is aemberlitaa Hamama, one of the city’s oldest hamams, located just off Divan Yolu near the Kapala aaraa. This is perhaps the best place for your first Turkish bath experience, and thoroughly reputable. It’s a double hamam (twin baths for men and women) designed by Sinan for Nurbanu Sultan, wife of Sultan Selim II, in 1584. You can avail of the massage service here.
The best way to check out Istanbul’s numerous sights is by walking around. There are a few golf courses if the game interests you. The best swimming options are a day trip to Kilyos or Sile. Gyms tend to be testosterone-fuelled, barred to women and with limited equipment. Backgammon boards are common but there are few facilities for billiards or bowling. Shopping in the thousands of shops around is city is the most preferred activity. And most tourists also end up trying one of the many hamams (Turkish steam baths).
History:
Istanbul was established around 657 BC. Although conquered by Alexander the Great and eventually subsumed by the Roman Empire, it fared pretty well until it annoyed a Roman emperor by backing his rival in a civil war. The city was subsequently destroyed. A new city was erected in 330 AD, at first called New Rome but quickly rechristened Constantinople.
Many of old Constantinople’s Christian churches and palaces, as well as the impressive Hippodrome, are still visible today. Over the next few centuries the city weathered attacks by the armies of the Islamic and Bulgarian empires, but the crusaders finally sacked it in 1204. The city was reclaimed by a rejuvenated Byzantine Empire 50 years later.
The fall of Constantinople occurred in 1453 when the Ottoman army of Sultan Mehmet II took the city. It was under the Ottomans that a classic mosque design was established and many other great buildings constructed in the city, which was soon renamed Istanbul. The Ottoman Empire overextended itself militarily in the 18th century and went into a decline, accentuated by the fact that it was well behind Europe in the areas of science, politics and commerce. This led to modernisation attempts and in-fighting, including the eventual slaughter in Istanbul of the janissaries, the sultan’s bodyguards and a prominent symbol of the old regimes.
The turn of the 20th century was greeted with nationalist uprisings in Macedonia, Crete and Armenia, and Turkish stability hit a new low after the country opted to side with Germany during WW I – the result was the British occupation of Istanbul. The Turkish War of Independence, during which revitalised nationalist forces fought off invaders from Greece, France and Italy, finally led to the birth of the Turkish republic in 1923.
The seat of the new nation was established in Ankara, and Istanbul, no longer regarded as a political or cultural powerhouse, was relegated to a back-seat role in terms of its prominence as a city. All that changed during the 1980s and 1990s, however, when Turkey experienced an economic and tourism boom, and Istanbul is now re-staking its claim as the ‘capital’ of the Eastern Mediterranean.
Getting There:
Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport is Turkey’s largest and busiest. Any number of popular regular services from the Middle East, the USA, Australia and Europe land here. The main domestic carrier, Turkish Airlines (THY), has regular flights to major European and Asian cities. In 2001 another airport, Sabiha Gokçen International Airport, opened at Kurtköy on the Asian side of the city, though most flights still arrive and depart from Ataturk. Ataturk Airport is 23 km west of Sultanahmet. A taxi into the city center is the quickest option; it takes around half an hour.
A number of local bus companies service other European destinations, but these services are slow. Within Turkey, bus is the most widespread and popular way of getting around. The main bus station, the ‘otogar’, is a town in itself, with 168 ticket offices, restaurants, mosques and shops. Buses leave here for domestic and international routes. Driving through Turkey isn’t recommended – the traffic is horrendous. However, if you’re game to get behind the wheel, you can bring a car over on a ferry from Italy or Greece.
Getting Around:
Walking is the best way to see Istanbul – though the ferries rate a close second. It has a decent dirt-cheap public transport network. But all public transport slows to a crawl around peak hours; this is the time to take to your feet. The main bus station, the International Istanbul Bus Station, or more simply, the ‘otogar’, is 10km west of Sultanahmet at Esenler. Both city and private buses run services in Istanbul. The suburban trains are a bit decrepit but reliable and inexpensive, running from Sirkeci station. There are several tramlines to choose from if you want a ride with a view. Istanbul has a large fleet of yellow taxis, but a cheaper way of getting around the streets is to hire a dolmus, a shared taxi or minibus.
Antalya
This is the chief city on Turkey’s central Mediterranean coast. It is a good springboard to to explore the quieter beach towns and more spectacular ancient cities around. Side, 75 km east of Antalya, is the increasingly popular beach town once chosen by Mark Antony and Cleopatra for a romantic tryst. Alanya, 115 km east of Antalya, is another sea-sun-n-sand joint with a mini-Miami feel. Patara is a party town a few hundred km south-west of Antalya.
Bodrum
This is South Aegean’s prettiest resort. It has a yacht harbour and a port for ferries to the Greek island of Kos. Palm-lined streets ring the bays, and white sugar-cube houses, now joined by ranks of villas, crowd the hillside. Boating, swimming, snorkeling and scuba diving are prime Bodrum activities. At night Bodrum’s famous discos throb, boom and blare. Bodrum can be reached from just about anywhere – it’s 4 hours to Izmir by road.
Water sports are big in Turkey because of the beautiful coasts and beaches. Yachting, water-skiing, snorkeling and diving are well represented. Because of the many antiquities in the depths off the Turkish coasts, scuba diving is regulated – check before you immerse yourself in treasure. Turkey has plenty of mountains there for the climbing – the mountain climbing scene is small but enthusiastic. There is decent skiing at Bursa, on Mt Erciyes near Kayseri, and at Palandoken near Erzurum. Equipment can be rented at the slopes, but don’t expect Alps-league facilities. Cycling through Turkey is eminently possible and mostly delightful, but you may wish to bring your own bike (and spares) as renting and selling good bikes is not yet widespread.
Turkey Tourist Visa Requirements
Passport with minimum two blank pages, passport should be valid for six months from date of return journey
Two photo as per Singapore specification
Duly filled and signed visa forms it should be back to back print
Passenger cover letter addressed to Visa Officer, Consulate of Turkey, Mumbai
SOTC cover letter addressed to Visa Officer, Consulate of Turkey, Mumbai
Personal bank statements for last 6 months (Originals are required for verification)
Leave letter for salaried
NOC / Signature proof for brides in case of honeymooners
School / College ID for students
Day by day itinerary
Hotel Confirmations from supplier
Confirmed issued air tickets
Visa will be valid for 90 days, single entry
Processing Time – 3 working days
Visa Fees – INR 3300 (For WFT) (For KH and DIYH INR 250 extra)
Jurisdiction – Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, MP, Chhattisgarh, AP, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala.
MUMBAI TURKISH CONSULATE GENERAL
Address: No: 101, 10th Floor, Maker Chambers IV, 222, Jamnalal Bajaj Road, Nariman Point, Mumbai-400 021, India
Telephone: 00-91-22- 2204 0365
Fax: 00-91-22- 2204 0376
Time Zone: Summer : 2 1/2 hrs behind India and Winter : 3 1/2 hrs behind India
Electricity: 230V ,50Hz
