TURKEY DRONES

[Chris Abram]

I have been trying for several weeks to get some sense out of the London Turkish Embassy/Consulate regarding taking a drone to Turkey. Left hand and right hand obviously do not communicate with each other very often. At last the answer is that they do NOT want you to take your drone on holiday to Turkey. Which is a shame really as I had paid out several hundreds of £'s for the overpriced Dji intelligent batteries.
I have been to Turkey several times to study the wealth of heritage that is there but after my next trip in a week's time I will not go there again. Cyprus in future.

I publish the complete text that I received today 23/05/18 from the London Embassy and be warned, if you do get your drone into the country and you fly there illegally your drone will be confiscated, it will cost you a heavy fine and you could end up in an horrendous Turkish prison.

Thank you very much for your note.
As the Turkish Tourism and Culture Office in London we are neither the civil aviation authority directly responsible for this issue nor the IT people to correct the problem on the related Website. It’s a complicated issue and I’m trying to get information from another institution to keep you informed correctly. So, I don’t believe that threatening us with a negative social media campaign might contribute to solve this problem. Could you please let me tell you the response I got from the General Directorate of Civil Aviation this morning:

Foreign nationals who have no working or residence permit in Turkey cannot bring their unmanned aircraft system (including drone) in Turkey. That’s why the form on the website requires a Turkish ID number. (Each foreign nationals having residence permit in Turkey is allocated a Turkish ID number.) The online system can only allow someone to bring their drone in just after verifying this identity number on another security system.

Thanks for your patience.
With my kindest regards,
Taner

 

[gingerbloke]

Pretty arrogant attitude - like we'd ever stop a 'foreigner' flying here in the UK?!?

You can't fight it - like you say, take your tourist spend elsewhere.

 

[BigAl07]

From this reply:
So, I don’t believe that threatening us with a negative social media campaign might contribute to solve this problem
it sounds to me like you asked for permission to fly your hobby aircraft in their country and when informed that you could NOT you implied you was going to launch a negative social media campaign against them? Isn't the like pitching a fit for not getting your way? That's hardly an adult and ambassador-like way to behave.

I sincerely hope I'v mis-read this and I'm completely wrong.

 

[RunningWithScissors]

it will cost you a heavy fine and you could end up in an horrendous Turkish prison.

Ah, yes, Turkish prisons. Takes me back a few years. Good times.

 

[maxheadspace]

I have been trying for several weeks to get some sense out of the London Turkish Embassy/Consulate regarding taking a drone to Turkey. Left hand and right hand obviously do not communicate with each other very often.

A few weeks is actually amazingly fast for most embassies to respond. And their answer was pretty clear and concise, unlike most responses I've received from foreign governments. Hey, it sucks that they don't allow non-residents to bring drones into the country, but this is probably the fastest, clearest response of this kind that I've seen. Ah, and Turkish prison... I'll have to watch the movie Midnight Express again.

 

[pa2x]

Turkey and North Korea are the same!![emoji16] Maybe North Korea is better!![emoji16][emoji16]

 

[Dronemade]

There is actually a tolerance for drones weighting less than 500 g accroding to their site.
SHGM - İHA Kayıt Sistemi I tried to sum it all into my drone rules world map and altough it is tougher than most European countries it seems a little more tolerant these days. (Still way better than most countries in Middle east).

 

[Chris Abram]

There is actually a tolerance for drones weighting less than 500 g accroding to their site.
SHGM - İHA Kayıt Sistemi I tried to sum it all into my drone rules world map and altough it is tougher than most European countries it seems a little more tolerant these days. (Still way better than most countries in Middle east).

The problem is supplying a Turkish residents number. If you are not Turkish then, as far as I can establish, you are unable to complete the form. OK if you are Turkish but it effectively bans any visitor to the country bringing in a drone.

 

[Dronemade]

Fair enough, I went to study the country's rules here in case interested.
https://www.drone-made.com/blog/turkey-drone-laws

So far, my finding tell that above 500 g you would need to be a citizen indeed but for drones less than 500 g there is no registration needed so you should be fine? Did I miss something?

 

[furthertofly]

I have been trying for several weeks to get some sense out of the London Turkish Embassy/Consulate regarding taking a drone to Turkey. Left hand and right hand obviously do not communicate with each other very often. At last the answer is that they do NOT want you to take your drone on holiday to Turkey. Which is a shame really as I had paid out several hundreds of £'s for the overpriced Dji intelligent batteries.
I have been to Turkey several times to study the wealth of heritage that is there but after my next trip in a week's time I will not go there again. Cyprus in future.

I publish the complete text that I received today 23/05/18 from the London Embassy and be warned, if you do get your drone into the country and you fly there illegally your drone will be confiscated, it will cost you a heavy fine and you could end up in an horrendous Turkish prison.

Thank you very much for your note.
As the Turkish Tourism and Culture Office in London we are neither the civil aviation authority directly responsible for this issue nor the IT people to correct the problem on the related Website. It’s a complicated issue and I’m trying to get information from another institution to keep you informed correctly. So, I don’t believe that threatening us with a negative social media campaign might contribute to solve this problem. Could you please let me tell you the response I got from the General Directorate of Civil Aviation this morning:

Foreign nationals who have no working or residence permit in Turkey cannot bring their unmanned aircraft system (including drone) in Turkey. That’s why the form on the website requires a Turkish ID number. (Each foreign nationals having residence permit in Turkey is allocated a Turkish ID number.) The online system can only allow someone to bring their drone in just after verifying this identity number on another security system.

Thanks for your patience.
With my kindest regards,
Taner

Some perspective: Hobbyist drones have been used for military and terrorist violence in that part of the world (and a few other places) for several years now. You can't blame them for wanting to get control of who's flying drones in the country, especially foreigners. Just sayin'.....