Cell phones are closely controlled here in Turkey. I'm starting to see that the embassy security team wasn't exactly kidding when they said Big Brother is watching. To prevent cell phones from being brought in en masse from abroad, every foreign phone must be registered before it can be used with a Turkish SIM card. I didn't entirely understand why this would be such a problem until I went shopping for a phone today.
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This phone, which retails for maybe $200 and change in the US went for about 1200YTL (That's about $1000 folks). I have yet to see an iPhone in a store but I feel they would take nothing less than a kidney in payment. My baby cost 100YTL (the cheapest I could find and has both a flashlight and FM radio!!). She doesn't look to bad either:
In addition to the exorbitant pricing, one, if Turkish, must register the SIM card with the powers that be. That means that you must provide a photo ID--even if the phone is a pay-as-you-go--before the SIM will be activated. They photocopy your ID and write your phone number on the sheet.
Foreigners are not exempt from this process. You must provide a passport before they will sell you your SIM. All I could think about was the Jason Bourne movie where he's talking to that Guardian journalist in Waterloo station and he just walks up and buys two cell phones at a desk and drops one in the guy's pocket. Can't pull that here Matt Damon. Not that I am any kind of super spy maniac out to expose the inner workings of the CIA, but it was strangely invasive.
The staff at Turkcell made the whole experience quite enjoyable however. We got this young guy with a pony tail who, when we asked if he spoke English responded, "Hayir, Russiya", or something like "No, Russian" though I think he was joking because he had a hearty laugh after that one. Bouncing back and forth with about 80% pantomime and 10% each Turkish and English we finally had done the necessary paperwork. He then told me "Two whores." He had been a pleasant guy the whole time, and in any case there were four of us. He clearly wasn't sure he had said the right thing, especially after seeing my face and hearing the three others burst into laughter, when his colleague chimed in, "Two hours, must wait use cep telefonu."
Ah, wait two hours...
Two whores eh? You'll get better at deciphering Turnglish. I've become a master of understanding the most incomprehensible of pronunciation in the classroom. It's valuable, but can sometimes make things less fun. I know that kid didn't just call his activity partner a "bitch," but geez it sure sounded like he did. (He was saying an unrelated Korean slang word)
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