The Communications in Turkey
The communications in Turkey are well developed, although telecommunication services (both domestic and international) are best in urban areas. Telephone system covers all the country with efficiently working direct local and international dialing system.
Postal Offices are conveniently located in all districts of every city and town. Turkish post offices are easily recognizable by the yellow and black ?PTT? signs.
Internet Access is well developed, there are public places with Wi-Fi connection and Café Internet which have cheap fees per hour of usage of the service.
Telephone Service in Turkey
Telephone Service in Turkey is provided by Turk Telekom, a half privatized company, covering all the country with local and international direct dialing system.
Turkish telephone numbers do have 7 digits in Turkey. Each Turkish town/city has its own 3 digits “Area Code”.
Calling To/From Turkey
Turkey Country Code is 90. To call to Turkey from abroad dial your Access Code for International dial usually 00 (worldwide), followed by the country code, 90 + the Turkish city/town code + the phone number. For instance, to call to a phone number located in the European side of Istanbul, the dial will be: 00 90 212 PHONE NUMBER.
To dial abroad from Turkey dial the international code 00 followed by the country code and the number including the local area code.
There are three GSM mobile-phone companies, all of whit sell pre-paid SIM cards for around $20. Top-up cards are widely available.
Public pay phones
Public telephones are conveniently located throughout the country. There are public phone booths which accept cards or tokens, called ?jetons?, which can be bought from post offices (PTT) or local shops. The JETONS are available in three sizes: small for local calls, large for international calls and medium which can be used for either.
Calling from your hotel might be quite expensive, but as an alternative the public phones are cheaper. It is wise to check rates before making a call.
Postal Service in Turkey
The Turkish postal service is run by the PTT, they are easily recognized, all of them bear a yellow distinctive with a PTT sign.
Open hours are: Mon-Sat 8am-5pm; main branches are open until 7 or 8pm also on Sundays. Letters, Post cards and open enveloped post cards do have different tariffs. Post boxes are clearly labelled with categories of destination - yurtdisi means overseas.
The PTT is the best place to make phone calls. Post offices sell phonecards (30, 60 and 100 units) and jetons (tokens), and have both types of phone, as well as metered phones.
Useful Numbers Emergency
| Office/Institution | Number |
| Fire Department | 110 |
| Emergency | 112 |
| International Operator | 115 |
| Directory Assistance | 118 |
| Reversed Charge Calls | 131 |
| Police | 155 |
| Gendarme | 156 |
| Coast Security | 158 |
| Forest Fire | 177 |