Türkiye's 120-day phone rule, explained

What the rule covers

Every phone used on a Turkish network has to be in the national device register (Merkezi Cihaz Kayıt Sistemi, run by the regulator BTK). A phone bought abroad isn't, so it gets 120 days of use. Within that time you can register it, and the right to register lapses 365 days after you entered the country.

Registration is tied to your own entry: one phone per person every three calendar years, registered on your passport and used with lines in your own name. It means paying the fee below and applying with your passport; BTK's consumer pages and e-Devlet describe the steps.

What registration costs

The fee goes up every January with the revaluation rate, which is announced in late November; the new amount has been published at the very end of December each year. Check the 2027 figure before you plan around it.

If you live abroad

Turkish citizens living abroad, and Blue Card holders, can extend the 120 days twice by 30 days, to 180 days in all, through an e-Devlet application, for one phone. It is an extension, not a registration: after 180 days the same choice comes back.

What about a travel eSIM?

The registration rule is written for phones on Turkish lines. A phone roaming in Türkiye on a foreign SIM or eSIM falls outside it by the regulation's own scope clause, so your home SIM or a travel eSIM on roaming doesn't start the 120 days.

There is one exception: "permanent roaming". A device with a foreign SIM that is on Turkish networks on more than 90 days within any 120 consecutive days, without voice calls, counts as permanent roaming and can be blocked. Since July 2026 the definition no longer mentions text messages. For a holiday of a few weeks this never applies; for a stay of three months or more on data alone, it can.

What the rules don't say

Some things are not settled in anything official we could find. Is the 120-day count from your entry into Türkiye, or from the day the phone first works on a Turkish SIM? BTK's own help pages say both in different places. Does leaving and coming back reset it? What happens with a dual-SIM phone with a Turkish SIM and a foreign eSIM? If any of these decide your plans, ask at a BTK-authorised operator shop or check e-Devlet before you rely on an answer.