What not to do in Turkey: etiquette and customs for visitors

Turkey has few outright bans that affect visitors: you may not smoke indoors or on public transport, deface Turkish banknotes, or insult the nation, the flag or Atatürk. Almost everything else people usually ask about before a trip (shorts, kissing in the street, gestures, behaviour in someone's home) is governed by custom, not law. Custom varies from place to place: the British Foreign Office states plainly that parts of the country are socially conservative, so what is normal on a resort seafront may raise eyebrows in a residential neighbourhood. Below, the line drawn by the law is separated from the expectations worth knowing in advance.

Law and custom: where the line runs

The criminal offences a visitor may not expect (insulting the nation, the flag and the founder of the republic, drugs, photographing military sites) are covered in the gezdir.me article on safety in Turkey. One point that is easy to miss belongs alongside them: according to the British Foreign Office (FCDO) advice as of 7 November 2026, defacing Turkish banknotes is illegal, so do not draw on notes or tear them, even as a joke.

You may photograph local people, but ask permission first: that is the FCDO's advice, and the same safety article explains the rules on photography in more detail. No law telling visitors how to dress in the street or how to behave with a partner in public could be found. Everything below is therefore a matter of good manners, not a list of fines.

Shorts, headscarves and beachwear

There is no general dress code for the streets: the FCDO mentions clothing only in connection with mosques, holy sites and Ramadan. The Rough Guides travel guide offers a reference point: norms depend on the region and even the district, beachwear belongs on the beach, walking shirtless through a resort's streets is considered offensive, and very short shorts and miniskirts are best avoided away from tourist areas. That gives a simple rule for Istanbul too: the further from the tourist streets, the more covered up the clothing.

There are no special rules for women's clothing in the street, and female visitors do not need to cover their heads: no such requirement appears in the FCDO advice or in any law that could be found. Rough Guides notes only that many local women wear a headscarf in traditional districts. What to wear in a mosque is covered in detail in the gezdir.me article on Istanbul's mosques, based on the guidance of the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), and those rules already apply at the Blue Mosque. How to behave during Ramadan is covered in a separate gezdir.me article on Ramadan and holidays.

Kissing and hugging in public

A kiss in the street is not a crime. Article 225 of the Turkish Criminal Code ("Indecent acts") punishes with six months to a year in prison only those who have sexual intercourse in public or expose themselves; kissing and hugging are not mentioned. How people will react is another matter. The FCDO warns that public displays of affection may attract unwanted attention, and it says so in its section for LGBT travellers: same-sex relationships are legal in Turkey but not recognised, and since 2015 the authorities have banned or broken up Pride marches.

This restraint has a flip side. Friends of the same sex holding hands or hugging when they meet simply look like friends in Turkey, sociologist Recep Şentürk explained to the Anadolu Agency; his words were published by Daily Sabah in February 2016.

Gestures that are easy to misread

Judging by what foreign students told the Anadolu Agency, the most confusion comes from a simple "no". It usually looks different from what visitors are used to:

• "No": the head tilts slightly back and the eyebrows go up, often with a click of the tongue; sometimes raised eyebrows alone are enough. Newcomers often take this for a nod or for irritation, though it is just an ordinary refusal.
• "Yes": a single short nod, slightly to one side, as Rough Guides describes it.
• A quick shake of the head from side to side is not "no" but "please explain, I don't understand".
• Fingertips pinched together and raised mean "delicious" or "excellent". A student from Kyrgyzstan told Anadolu that at home the same gesture means "shut up", so there is no reason to take offence at it in Turkey.
• Slapping an open palm against the fist of the other hand is seen in Turkey as an obscene gesture with a sexual meaning, whereas in Ethiopia, according to the students, it is used to celebrate success.

Where you can and cannot smoke

Smoking outdoors is generally allowed: Law No. 4207 bans tobacco mainly in enclosed spaces. The ban covers the enclosed parts of public institutions and of any building that several people may enter, except private homes; restaurants, coffee houses, cafés and pubs; and all public transport, including taxis, trains, ferries and aircraft. The law does not allow smoking outdoors in a few places: anywhere on the grounds of nurseries, schools, cultural and social service institutions, and in the open-air areas and stands of sports, cultural and entertainment events, where it is permitted only in designated zones.

The law treats hookah and tobacco-free cigarettes that imitate tobacco products as tobacco, so a hookah in a café's indoor room falls under the same ban. Hotels may set aside rooms for smoking guests, and separate smoking areas are allowed on the decks of intercity and international vessels. The fine for a smoker is set under Article 39 of the Code of Misdemeanours. The law gives a base amount of 50 lira, but Article 17 of the same code requires it to be raised every year by the revaluation rate. The amount in force in 2026 could not be confirmed from an official source: legal websites give different figures.

How to behave as a guest in a Turkish home

Shoes come off at the door: Rough Guides advises always doing so. Tea will almost certainly follow. As GoTürkiye, the portal of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, describes it, in an Anatolian home the guest is served tea first of all, and the glass is topped up until the guest says "enough" (yeter); even after a polite refusal you will probably be offered one more, in case you are just being shy. According to Rough Guides, a hand placed on the chest helps you decline tea for good.

Food follows a similar logic: the same guide says it is customary to decline the first offer, a sincere invitation will be repeated, and the third can be accepted. In village homes people sit on cushions; tuck your feet in, because showing the soles is impolite, and take food from shared dishes with your right hand. And do not rush to leave: GoTürkiye quotes a saying that the guest decides when to arrive, and the host decides when to go.

If your hosts make Turkish coffee, it is a mark of attention. UNESCO, which added Turkish coffee culture to the list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013, calls it a symbol of hospitality and friendship: the coffee is served in a small cup with a glass of water, and the grounds at the bottom are often used afterwards to tell fortunes.

Nazar: why the blue eye is sold on every corner

Nazar, or the evil eye (göz değmesi), is the belief that an envious or even simply admiring look can cause harm. According to the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi encyclopedia, the idea is much older than Islam: it can be traced among the Sumerians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. In folk belief, those most vulnerable to the evil eye are babies, children, brides and livestock, as well as new possessions and houses.

Hence the blue glass eye beads (nazar boncuğu). They are hung on children and animals, in cars, homes and workplaces; the blue colour, the encyclopedia explains, is linked to the belief that people with blue or green eyes have an especially powerful gaze. That is why the bead is sold everywhere: it is not a souvenir for tourists but an everyday charm. The same encyclopedia notes that Islam disapproves of putting hope in objects instead of God, so the nazar is a folk custom, not a religious precept. When admiring someone's child or new purchase, many Turks add "maşallah": the word expresses admiration, and it is also written on charm pendants.

Photo: Zorka Sojka · CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Turecko_Nazar_amulet_(24).jpg)