Consulates in Istanbul- The Ultimate Guide

Consulates in Istanbul- General Information

This is a fancy topic like our other info posts- “museum pass“, “Istanbul history” and “Istanbul airports“. Every traveler should know something about consulates and/or embassies in case of a need during a trip. We wish everyone have a nice and safe trip, but think about that “what would you do if you lose your passport?” So, this is just an example, you may have different troubles such as theft, fight, traffic penalty or threatening. For these reasons, the best thing you can do first is “to request help from embassy or consulate”. So, let’s check consulates in Istanbul before packing.

We share a huge detailed consulate/embassy contact list, additionally, there are many good topics we want to talk about like some important numbers such as annual visitors, some Istanbul travel tips, consulate responsibilities, etc. It would be good if you don’t try to reach consulate or if you at least reduce the possibility so that we also want to remind other important topics regardless of embassy/consulate contact details.

Please note that it is always good to behave seriously during any of your trips. We are sure that you will be having fun, but be on the safer side. Please always remember that having troubles may also ruin your trip.

Annual Visitors

In 2018, above 13 million people visited Istanbul. So, this means that this town is safe enough to travel, this is a good number. But we can’t say that the city is totally safe like other metropolitans such as Paris, London, etc. The crime in the world is increasing day by day, nobody can say we are very safe in the world.

Istanbul is very crowded and popular, you know above 15 million people live in this city.

We hope this visitor number will increase year by year. Additionally, check out the graph below, you know this city is fascinating and having a lot of visitors thru the year regardless of the season.

The monthly visitor is at the top during summertime, but we already shared “when is the best time to visit Istanbul?” Check this one out to be sure about you are traveling at the best time.

Annual visitor in Istanbul — Visitors in Istanbul

As a note, in 2014, Turkey was the 6th popular tourist destination in the world and 42 million foreign tourists visited in that year. [1]

Consulates in Istanbul- Travel Tips

It is not good to have such bad occasions during your trip. But, you might have to get in touch with your country representatives, embassies or consulates. However, we recommend you to be careful about these tips before moving to Turkey and some of them are standard travel tips.

Political demonstrations

So, starting with the most common one. Avoid political demonstrations. This one is also adviced by different sites and we also agree. For instance, 1st of May is labor day and Taksim square is very famous about the tension between protestors and police. So, you shouldn’t be close to this area on this day. These dates can be extended but be aware or not get close to those famous areas.

Taxis

Be careful about taxis. Before catching a taxi, check if the taxi has a logo on a door or taxi sign on the car roof. Please note that there are many illegal yellow ones around, so make sure you choose a licensed one. And then check if they have a taxi meter and turn it on. It would be good if you can open the maps/navigator and check if they are on the best route. If you use, they will request bridge and/or highway toll for both ways, that is normal. If the taxi is too fast, just warn them to slow down.

Renting car

Ok if you rent a car, make sure it is locked when you are not in it. Driving is very crazy and we are thinking that driving in Istanbul is very much challenging than driving in New York, London or Paris. So, don’t get nervous when you stuck in the traffic, traffic jam is the main problem of this city. Additionally, don’t drink alcohol and drive. The alcohol limit is very low and corresponds to 1 beer only.

Travel Insurance

Make sure you have travel insurance. This is a generic one, if you are a traveler, make sure you have one whether you travel to Turkey.

Back Pockets

Make sure your valuable stuff is safe when you are in top tourist attraction places or when you use a bus, metro and, ferry. Back pockets are risky, so put your wallet, etc. in your front pockets.

Dress Codes

Istanbul has a lot of different types of people. People are generally respectful about how you wear, but it would be good if you are careful about the dress codes when you visit a mosque.

Dress code for mosques — Mosques’ dress code

Tap Water

You can’t drink tap water in the top cities of Turkey, because it is not healthy. You can buy from any shops and it is cheap.

Think Twice

Don’t ruin your trip. Don’t search drug, don’t get drunk (if you get drunk, make sure you have a friend), defend yourself but don’t create problems and don’t fight.

Forsaken Areas

Please don’t walk around forsaken areas especially at night. (e.g. Istanbul city walls)

Bargain

Bargain most of the times when you shop. You can bargain with small shop owners, especially in Grand Bazaar but don’t try this with globalized companies, it will not work. Speaking Turkish or having a Turkish friend can be pretty helpful.

Restaurants

Prefer to eat at good restaurants. Check the points/stars thru big sites such as TripAdvisor. Don’t eat every street food. Make sure the food has enough quality.

Consulates in Istanbul

Make sure you save/store your consulate info in your phone. Check the list below.

Strangers

Be cautious if a stranger tries to talk to you. There are many weird things. We will not explain all these weird things, but we saw once, a guy was trying to talk to a tourist that he could bypass the queue with some money at Blue Mosque. How this can happen? Nobody can request money if you want to enter a mosque. This is open for everyone since people can pray. If you don’t really feel secure and if you don’t travel abroad a lot, arranging a city guide can also be good.

Be Local

Act like a local, don’t behave like a tourist everywhere.

Consulates in Istanbul- Terminology

Embassy

Embassies are the representatives of the countries. The person in charge is known as ambassador. Basically, if one country recognizes another country’s sovereignty, they tend to open an embassy in the capital of a host country. Moreover, the ambassador is being sent and acts as the spokesperson for his/her national government.

Consulate

Consulates are mostly located in touristic cities. Consul is the head of a consulate. The duties are similar like ambassador except for diplomatic relationships.

Consulate-general

Consulate-general has one or more consulates as deputies. Their responsibilities are similar to consulates.

Consulate-honorary

Honorary consulates are lower level missions and they have limited authorization. Honorary consuls mostly have a good relationship with the host and foreign country that they mostly have some business or cultural connections. Moreover, they usually look after the affairs of their citizens in foreign countries. Additionally, they may report to an embassy, and they mostly do not have diplomatic passports, etc [2].

Consulates in Istanbul- Consulate/Embassy Responsibilities

The difference is easy. Embassies mostly deal with diplomatic items. However, consulates mostly deal with public items. Basically, this means that the embassy is the diplomatic representation of a government in another nation, and the consulate is responsible for handling visas, passports, tourists’ and expatriates’ issues. Please see below further for consulates’ responsibilities [3] Ankara is the capital of Turkey, so there is no embassy in Istanbul as expected.

Establishing passports
Looking after its own citizens in detention or arrest
Informing its own citizens about social security
Helping its own citizens during an emergency situation.

There may be a lot of problems you should directly get in touch with the consulate, however, it looks like passport loss might be one of the biggest ones. In this case, you should report it to local police. And then, you can apply to an embassy or consulate for further assistance with this police report.

Consulates in Istanbul– The Ultimate List

See the detailed list below. We reached out to many countries’ consulates located in Istanbul [4-20]. There are some countries which don’t have any representations within Turkey or Istanbul. Some of them have representation only in Ankara- the capital city of Turkey.

Please note that this info may be updated, we recommend you to check via phone before going to consulates’ addresses. For more info about countries’ relationships etc., please check this reference [21].

Consulates in Istanbul- Conclusion

Traveling is always good but you should be careful and serious. Follow our travel tips and make sure you store information about consulates in Istanbul.