Apologies if this has been asked before (I couldn’t find anything with a quick search).
I’m soon to be travelling to Northern (Turkish) Cyprus via Istanbul. The thing is, I have a stamp on my passport from an earlier visit to the southern part of Cyprus. With relations between the two sides of Cyprus strained, am I likely to encounter any problems about this?
Furthermore, if the Turkish authorities stamp my passport, I’ve heard that this could then lead to more problems if I try to visit Greece or Southern Cyprus again in the future. I have been advised to ask for the stamp on a separate piece of paper, but I don’t want to be disrespectful, and I have no horse in any of this.
I’m very out-of-date on this, and my knowledge is about the situation roughly 20 years ago, so handle with caution …
It used to be that Greek authorities would cause you problems if you had a Turkish stamp on your passport, but not vice versa. Certainly, I’ve travelled between Turkey and Greece (again, 20 years ago), and only had problems at the Greek side.
If I were you, I’d consult the Identity & Passport Service and ask them. They used to provide duplicate passports on request so that the Greeks wouldn’t know you’d been on Turkish soil - if there’s now a problem in the other direction (which would surprise me), they’d be able to advise you.
I’ve been to both countries and never had any problems at all.
You have to pay £10 (or equivalent) to enter Turkey and remember this if you hand over more than the equivalent you don’t get change, they pocket the lot.
I found this out when I handed over £20 expected a tenner back
We travelled back and forth between the two, crossing the borders no less than a dozen times one summer, and only experienced a delay once. That was less about our passports than the Turkish border guards needlessly hassling the Greek bus driver and Greek tour guide. While there’s obviously an undercurrent of animosity, we didn’t see it trickling all the way down to the passport stamps.
I checked the Foreign Office website (thanks for the idea, Barrington) and their travel advice makes no mention of passport stamps, but does mention you can have issues if you enter the Southern part from the Northern part in the first instance as the authorities may deem you to have entered illegally. It says this is rarely the case nowadays though. I guess they prefer the tourist money!
Anyway, I figure I will take the paper stamp if offered the choice, but I won’t ask specifically ask for it.
Sounds like the Turkish authorities don’t care about the stamps either way, but if pressured, I will shamelessly squeal all I know about the Southern side… which mainly consists of the decor inside various bars.
Really?
That really surprises me. I entered Turkey via Istanbul’s Atatürk airport four years ago, and I didn’t have to pay anything. Just present my passport, get the stamp, and that was it. It was an EU passport, however, so YMMV.
If I may share my anecdotal evidence: The United Arab Emirates are among the states* which may cause you problems if you enter the country with a previous Israeli stamp or visa in your passport. I had one in my passport, and yet I was admitted to enter the Emirates without any difficulties - the immigration officer skimmed through my passport, but apparently just to look for the exit stamp of the country where I was coming from to put the UAE stamp next to it, not in order to search for Israeli stamps. So if there’s such a policy, it’s probably not enforced very enthusiastically. Since tensions between Greece and Turkey have relaxed during the past few years, as compared to the 1970s, I don’t believe you’ll have any problems.
*): I heard contradicting information about whether the UAE really belong to these states, but most sources I checked said yes.
