On Aug. 30, Türkiye celebrated Victory Day, which is a national holiday honoring the country’s armed forces. Türkiye's gendarmerie are an integral part of the military that devote their time to protecting us. For many visiting foreigners, the gendarmerie in their royal blue uniforms are the most visible servants of our security and in many cases, they will be the ones to assist in times of need.
This is because in Türkiye, the gendarmerie, which include different departments, can actually serve the people in a similar way as the police. While in certain areas and especially in large cities, the police department are the more visible security officers, in other areas and certainly, in a number of holiday destinations, society’s security is ensured by the gendarmerie. Most visiting foreigners, and of course expats, will most likely have seen their presence as they are out there serving the community and most have dedicated their lives to protecting us.
In honor of these heroes, who have to tackle so many different areas of danger for society yet remain the calmest and most respectful members of their communities, I wanted to write a review of what to know and how we as foreigners can make their lives easier. Of course, I take this liberty as I am now near fluent in Turkish and as a curious journalist have taken any opportunity to converse with them when possible. I truly respect their jobs and most if not all of the gendarmerie that are visible on the streets are professionals who have devoted their careers to serving us.
This means that they are most likely far from their hometowns and will spend their careers being appointed to different areas of the country, a consideration they have told me is one of the hardest parts of making the decision to be a military professional. I have been told that this is a factor that even affects their family life and can be a burden, especially for their spouses. They explained that when they want to get married, potential spouses definitely take this difficulty into consideration. While this is of course just the icing on the cake of just how intense their jobs are and all for the sake of serving the peace, I just thought that if there is any way to make their lives easier, maybe it could be via a briefer for foreigners on some aspects of security we might want to be aware of.
Yet still, I am also a foreigner so take what I say with a grain of salt, but there might be questions about security and legalities you might have that may be answered here. And so, this is just a general overview of some information I have gathered over time that I believe foreigners might find useful.
First and foremost, if you need assistance of any kind in Türkiye you just dial #112. This is a general telephone number from where you can request the help of a security officer, an ambulance, the fire department and so forth. When you dial this number, an operator will then connect you to the services you need. The address of where the call is being made should be visible to the operator and you should be able to get English language assistance. What I didn’t know, and have not verified as to not tie up the lines, is that supposedly if you dial #911, you should be connected to the same helpline. This is to help those foreigners more familiar with the latter number than Türkiye's 112 general helpline.
As you can imagine, the forces that uphold this country’s security have a lot of areas to cover. So, an important way we can make life easier for everyone involved is to have our IDs, which for visiting foreigners could mean passports, with us at all times. You may be asked at any point to show your identification. Don’t take it personally. Just make it as easy as possible for the security professional trying to secure the peace. Don’t assume that you won’t need your ID just walking on the street because you could potentially be asked to provide your passport at any time and anywhere, even including at a cafe, on transportation or upon entrance to certain venues.
In Türkiye, there are many control points on the roads and highways that are there to ensure our safety. If you are in a vehicle or a bus, it is quite a regular occurrence to be pulled over and have your documents checked by security. If traveling on a bus, be prepared to provide your passport to the security officer who requests it. In many cases multiple if not all passengers will be asked to provide their IDs, which the officer may take with them to verify and then return shortly afterwards. This is regular practice and nothing to be alarmed about. I would advise just waiting patiently for your passport to be returned to you.
When driving in Türkiye, you will most likely come across one of these security check points and may be randomly pulled over. It is wise to expect this to occur and to have all of your necessary driving documents, such as your driving license, registration and identification easily accessible to make the process quicker for the officer tending to you. Rather than scrambling for those documents, keep them together and ready to hand over because you may be asked to provide any one of them at any point in time in a vehicle. It is also considerate to turn the light on inside the vehicle when driving through a checkpoint so the officers can more clearly see who is in the car.
If you happen to receive a fine, which could be either issued by an officer themselves or via a camera or other security device that catches traffic violations such as running a red light or speeding, a 25% discount is applied if you pay the fee within the following 15 days. Fines can easily be paid online if you have a Turkish banking account or via banks or at any tax office. Fines issued by cameras and other devices should show up in the system within the next 48 hours after being issued.
