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>Turkey even pioneered the IMEI registration process where you can't use foreign device for longer than a few month in Turkey. This is a cool fact!

AdamJacobMuller 5y ago
I remember the process of getting a SIM in turkey was super annoying. I had to physically go to a store where they needed BOTH of our passports and a second form of ID (so had to go back to the hotel and return with my traveling companion) and a decent 30 minute process of entering our information into databases and making copies of IDs. Compare that to most countries where I can either trivially pop into a local store and pick up a prepaid sim in a few minutes, or, for most of my travel I can have them shipped to me at home in advance so I can land in country with a local sim. Istanbul was worth it though.
- mrtksn 5y ago
  Devices, SIM cards and identities must be matched in Turkey, so that nobody does anything naughty. They also make the service providers keep tower signal logs worth of many years, so it's common to prove your whereabouts in courts by requesting these logs. On the plus side, you can see and manage all your data from the government portal. It's rather convenient to be able to see all the subscriptions(GSM, TV and so on) on your name and cancel them from there if you wish. Totalitarian control has its perks.
  - sushsjsuauahab 5y ago
    >So that nobody does anything naughty Ah yes, now I know why all of those shootings and mass murders happened in the Turkish airport-- there was no system for mapping identities to SIM cards!! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Atatürk_Airport_attack https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Atatürk_Airport_attack
    - mrtksn 5y ago
      The security aspect was more of a pretext to force people purchase the heavily taxed officially imported mobile phones. Obviously, the usefulness for prevention of such attacks would be limited, it's more about identifying the offenders. It's also useful for surveillance, as you would expect a totalitarian state would like.
  - AdamJacobMuller 5y ago
    > cancel them from there if you wish You can cancel such services from a government portal? That's nearly worth living under an authoritarian regime.
- throw3849 5y ago
  You have to buy sim at airport, there is an exception from this registration, it is easy.
  - mrtksn 5y ago
    Are you sure about that? Maybe the process is streamlined for tourists but I doubt that they are not taking a copy of your passport. In fact, I Googled for tourist SIMS from the Turkish GSM operators and they mention[0] that to purchase a tourist SIM a foreign passport is required. [0] https://m.turkcell.com.tr/en/aboutus/traveling-turkey/local-sim-card-for-your-vacation https://m.turkcell.com.tr/en/aboutus/traveling-turkey/local-...
    - throw3849 5y ago
      Of course they will take your passport. First time I bought sim in store, it was illegal to use foreign phones, and shop owner had to fake his IMEI. Airports never had this restrictions or asked for IMEI.
      - mrtksn 5y ago
        AFAIK foreign IMEI was never illegal in Turkey. The registration requirement started in 2011, before that you could just pop a local SIM and use it. Any IMEI can be registered within a specific timeframe(they change it from time to time but it's usually 3 weeks to 12 months) or the GSM operator will deny service to your device. It could be that you missed your deadline because to register an IMEI you need to do it within certain timeframe after you enter the country, there was even a business of paying tourist to use their passports for registering IMEI of black market imports. Those who legally import phones for sale in Turkey also register the IMEI of every device but at different and much lower rates than the individual registrations(they pay other taxes).
        throw3849 5y ago
        Interesting, this was 2014, perhaps clerk did it to save me money for device registration. Now I just use my EU data plan, it has enough data for short stays.
- stjohnswarts 5y ago
  I definitely like using turkey as an example of how quickly a relatively healthy democracy can turn into an opressive theocratic regime when pointing out how close the USA became a similar nation just this past year and warning friends to not be complacent in upcoming election cycles.
  - baybal2 5y ago
    It definitely is a good example of such. A good example of such after 20 years of the West quietly cheering for such outcome. Turkeys' EU accession plan went nowhere, despite Turkey being genuinely serious for years on end. Western capitals were dead silent during the 2016 coup attempt.
    - mrtksn 5y ago
      > Western capitals were dead silent during the 2016 coup attempt. Yeah, and for the better. The coup attempt is very controversial and it's not good guys vs bad guys situation. To be fair, the west cheered for Erdogan up until Erdogan completely abandoned his initial positions. Later, the west simply worked with Turkey and Erdogan was properly elected through the years. What the West was supposed to do? Invade Turkey? Assassinate the politician who consistently got about %50 of the vote of the Turks on elections with no less than %85 voter turnaround? Foreign influence cannot solve local problems.
      - HWR_14 5y ago
        * What the West was supposed to do? Invade Turkey? * Apply economic and political pressure. Threaten their standing in NATO? Stall their admission to the EU?
        mrtksn 5y ago
        They did all that but Turkey is also a powerful country and important ally. EU can stall Turkey's admission in the EU and they did that however they also need Turkey to tackle the refugee crisis, Russia and other issues. EU got to the brink of collapse with 1 million Syrian refugees, Turkey is hosting 5 million of them. EU and Erdogan got a deal, EU turns blind eye to some of Erdogan's stuff and Erdogan takes back all the refugees that EU sends back. Similar agreements are in place with the USA. US lowers the heat under Erdogan and Turkey keeps the peace in Kabul. Stuff like that.
tradertef 5y ago
This worked well for me. Relatives are not asking me anymore to buy a phone for them and send it to them via visiting relatives.

AdamJacobMuller 5y ago

I remember the process of getting a SIM in turkey was super annoying. I had to physically go to a store where they needed BOTH of our passports and a second form of ID (so had to go back to the hotel and return with my traveling companion) and a decent 30 minute process of entering our information into databases and making copies of IDs. Compare that to most countries where I can either trivially pop into a local store and pick up a prepaid sim in a few minutes, or, for most of my travel I can have them shipped to me at home in advance so I can land in country with a local sim. Istanbul was worth it though.

mrtksn 5y ago
Devices, SIM cards and identities must be matched in Turkey, so that nobody does anything naughty. They also make the service providers keep tower signal logs worth of many years, so it's common to prove your whereabouts in courts by requesting these logs. On the plus side, you can see and manage all your data from the government portal. It's rather convenient to be able to see all the subscriptions(GSM, TV and so on) on your name and cancel them from there if you wish. Totalitarian control has its perks.
- sushsjsuauahab 5y ago
  >So that nobody does anything naughty Ah yes, now I know why all of those shootings and mass murders happened in the Turkish airport-- there was no system for mapping identities to SIM cards!! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Atatürk_Airport_attack https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Atatürk_Airport_attack
  - mrtksn 5y ago
    The security aspect was more of a pretext to force people purchase the heavily taxed officially imported mobile phones. Obviously, the usefulness for prevention of such attacks would be limited, it's more about identifying the offenders. It's also useful for surveillance, as you would expect a totalitarian state would like.
- AdamJacobMuller 5y ago
  > cancel them from there if you wish You can cancel such services from a government portal? That's nearly worth living under an authoritarian regime.
throw3849 5y ago
You have to buy sim at airport, there is an exception from this registration, it is easy.
- mrtksn 5y ago
  Are you sure about that? Maybe the process is streamlined for tourists but I doubt that they are not taking a copy of your passport. In fact, I Googled for tourist SIMS from the Turkish GSM operators and they mention[0] that to purchase a tourist SIM a foreign passport is required. [0] https://m.turkcell.com.tr/en/aboutus/traveling-turkey/local-sim-card-for-your-vacation https://m.turkcell.com.tr/en/aboutus/traveling-turkey/local-...
  - throw3849 5y ago
    Of course they will take your passport. First time I bought sim in store, it was illegal to use foreign phones, and shop owner had to fake his IMEI. Airports never had this restrictions or asked for IMEI.
    - mrtksn 5y ago
      AFAIK foreign IMEI was never illegal in Turkey. The registration requirement started in 2011, before that you could just pop a local SIM and use it. Any IMEI can be registered within a specific timeframe(they change it from time to time but it's usually 3 weeks to 12 months) or the GSM operator will deny service to your device. It could be that you missed your deadline because to register an IMEI you need to do it within certain timeframe after you enter the country, there was even a business of paying tourist to use their passports for registering IMEI of black market imports. Those who legally import phones for sale in Turkey also register the IMEI of every device but at different and much lower rates than the individual registrations(they pay other taxes).
      - throw3849 5y ago
        Interesting, this was 2014, perhaps clerk did it to save me money for device registration. Now I just use my EU data plan, it has enough data for short stays.
stjohnswarts 5y ago
I definitely like using turkey as an example of how quickly a relatively healthy democracy can turn into an opressive theocratic regime when pointing out how close the USA became a similar nation just this past year and warning friends to not be complacent in upcoming election cycles.
- baybal2 5y ago
  It definitely is a good example of such. A good example of such after 20 years of the West quietly cheering for such outcome. Turkeys' EU accession plan went nowhere, despite Turkey being genuinely serious for years on end. Western capitals were dead silent during the 2016 coup attempt.
  - mrtksn 5y ago
    > Western capitals were dead silent during the 2016 coup attempt. Yeah, and for the better. The coup attempt is very controversial and it's not good guys vs bad guys situation. To be fair, the west cheered for Erdogan up until Erdogan completely abandoned his initial positions. Later, the west simply worked with Turkey and Erdogan was properly elected through the years. What the West was supposed to do? Invade Turkey? Assassinate the politician who consistently got about %50 of the vote of the Turks on elections with no less than %85 voter turnaround? Foreign influence cannot solve local problems.
    - HWR_14 5y ago
      * What the West was supposed to do? Invade Turkey? * Apply economic and political pressure. Threaten their standing in NATO? Stall their admission to the EU?
      - mrtksn 5y ago
        They did all that but Turkey is also a powerful country and important ally. EU can stall Turkey's admission in the EU and they did that however they also need Turkey to tackle the refugee crisis, Russia and other issues. EU got to the brink of collapse with 1 million Syrian refugees, Turkey is hosting 5 million of them. EU and Erdogan got a deal, EU turns blind eye to some of Erdogan's stuff and Erdogan takes back all the refugees that EU sends back. Similar agreements are in place with the USA. US lowers the heat under Erdogan and Turkey keeps the peace in Kabul. Stuff like that.

tradertef 5y ago

This worked well for me. Relatives are not asking me anymore to buy a phone for them and send it to them via visiting relatives.