Dial 112 for an ambulance in anywhere, from any telephone, without a charge. In case of a fire, dial 110; for police, call 155. However, in rural areas there is not a police coverage, so dial 156 for gendarme, a military unit for rural security. All these numbers are free of charge and can be called from a telephone booth without inserting a calling card, or any phone including cell phones.

Telephone

You can find telephone booths on streets, post-offices and almost any public building. Phone cards are available in two types: Magnetic cards (which are becoming obsolete) and newer cards with a chip on them. You can also use your credit card on the phones operating with chipped-cards, although it may now always work. Cards are available in 30, 60 or 120 units and can be obtained at post offices, newspaper and tobacco kiosks. All phones in the booths have Turkish and English instructions and menues, many also have German and French in addition. There are also telephones available in private kiosks where you pay cash after your call. These telephones are more expensive than the ones at the booths.

It is estimated that approximately 96% of the population of Turkey lives within the coverage areas of Turkey’s three cell phone line providers. Line providers from most countries have roaming agreements with one or more of these companies.

Telephone area codes for some cities and their towns are: 212-Istanbul European side; 216-Istanbul Asian side, and the Princess’ Islands; 232-Izmir, Çeşme, Foça; 256-Aydin, Kuşadası; 252-Mugla, Bodrum, Marmaris, Fethiye; 242-Antalya, Kas, Kemer, Alanya; 312-Ankara; 384-Nevsehir, Most of Cappadocia (though a few well-known Cappadocian towns which are parts of the province of Aksaray and have 382 as their area code); 286-Çanakkale, Gallipoli; 224-Bursa, Uludag; 258-Denizli, Pamukkale; 332-Konya; 352-Kayseri. Dial 0 prior to telephone code for intercity calls.

Numbers starting with 0800 are pay-free, whereas the ones starting with 0900 are high-fee services. 7-digit numbers starting with 444 (mainly used by companies) are charged as local calls wherever they are dialed in Turkey.

Dial 00 prior to country code for international calls. International country code of Turkey is 90.

Postal System

Post offices are recognizable by their yellow-black “PTT” signs. Letters and cards should be taken to a post office since the postboxes on the streets are rare. Nevertheless, Turkish Post (PTT) prints some beautiful stamps. Sending international letters to most countries now cost only 0.80 YTL (about 0.50 Euros). Please check the PTT Webpage for the most current rates http://www.ptt.gov.tr/index_eng.php Main post offices in cities are open between 08:30 and 20:30 (08:30 pm), whereas post offices in towns and smaller post offices in cities are usually open between 08:30 and 17:30 (05:30 pm).

Poste restante letters should be sent to an address in the format of: official full name of the addressee (because the receiver will be asked for an ID card, passport or anything that can proof he/she is the receiver)+POSTRESTANT+name of the quarter/hood/district if in a city where there are more than one post office or name of the town where the post office is+postal code (if known, not obligatory)+the name of the province which the quarter/town of the post office is within. The receiver should pay 0.60 YTL (fee of a domestic letter) to take his/her letter.

Internet

“Internet-cafés” or “net-cafés” are available even in small towns. Most, if not all, have good DSL connections, and hourly price for connection is about more or less 1 YTL. Most, if not all, of these internet-cafés also have cd-writers which are avaible for anyone who makes an additional payment. Free wireless connections are available at some airports, hotels and restaurants/cafés (especially in big cities). Please see the Turkish Telecom webpage for information on Telecommuncation services http://www.turktelekom.com.tr/eng_default.asp.