كيفية التحقق من رخصة مرشد السياحة في تركيا: البطاقة والاسم والسجل

To check a tour guide in Turkey, ask to see the work card on the guide's chest, then type the name into the free guide register on the website of TUREB, the national union of guides' chambers. If the register shows the name with the word Eylemli, the guide holds this year's card and may legally work. The whole check takes about a minute on a phone. Every guide we assign on a private Istanbul tour with a licensed guide, from $199 per group per day, can be checked this way.

This page is the practical part: what to look at, where to click and how to read the Turkish words on the screen. For the background on how guides qualify and what the law allows them to do, see our overview of hiring a private tour guide in Turkey.

The quick check in four steps

1. Get the full name before the day. Ask the agency or the guide for the guide's first name and surname, spelled as on their ID. Turkish names often have letters such as ç, ş, ğ, ı and ö, so ask for the exact spelling.
2. Search the name on tureb.org.tr. Open the Rehber Veritabanı (guide database), type the first name in Adı and the surname in Soyadi, and press Ara (search).
3. Read the last column. Eylemli means the guide holds a current work card. Eylemsiz means the guide has a licence but no card this year, and may not guide.
4. Match it on the day. At pickup, look at the card the guide wears. The photo, the name and the languages should fit what you found online.

If the name does not appear at all, the person is not in the register. Ask the agency for an explanation before you go anywhere with them.

What the work card shows

The card is called a çalışma kartı (work card); many guides also call it a kokart. It is issued by the guide's regional chamber and is valid for one year. Under the Tourist Guiding Profession Regulation, the card shows the guide's identity details with a photo and a registration number, and it lists the foreign languages and the region the guide may work in. The guide must wear it visibly at chest level while working.

What to look at when you meet:

• The photo and name. They should match the person in front of you and the name you searched.
• The languages. The law allows a guide to work only in the languages written on the card, or in Turkish.
• The region. A card for a regional guide names the region; a national card allows work anywhere in Turkey.
• The validity. Cards are renewed yearly, so an old card is not proof of a current right to work.

Not carrying the card, or not wearing it where it can be seen, is a disciplinary offence for the guide under Law No. 6326. A licensed guide will not mind being asked to show it.

Searching the TUREB register, field by field

The register is public because the law requires it: Article 4 of Law No. 6326 says the names and registration numbers of all guides must be published on the union's official website. The page is in Turkish only. Here is what each part means.

There are two ways to search. The name search is fastest when you already know who is coming. The filter search, with Oda, Bölge and Yabancı Dil, is useful when you want to see how many guides in a region speak your language. Results show the name, the chamber, the languages and the status; some guides also choose to publish a phone number and email address.

Note the disclaimer at the top of the page. TUREB says it lists every guide because the law requires it, and that being listed as active does not prove a guide is working at the moment. In plain terms: the register confirms the right to work, not quality. TUREB also runs a separate document check (Belge Doğrulama), but it asks for the guide's Turkish ID number and licence number, so it is mainly a tool for agencies rather than travellers.

Eylemli or eylemsiz: the word that matters

Law No. 6326 defines both words. An eylemli guide holds a work card and has the right to guide. An eylemsiz guide holds the licence (the ruhsatname) but no work card for the current year. The law is clear that only eylemli guides may practise the profession.

A guide becomes eylemsiz for ordinary reasons, such as retiring, taking a year off or not renewing chamber membership. It is not a mark of misconduct. But it does mean that person should not be guiding you today. The law sets an administrative fine of 1,500 Turkish lira for an eylemsiz guide who works anyway, and anyone who stays eylemsiz for eight years in a row has to pass a ministry exam before returning.

When we checked the TUREB statistics on 6 November 2026, the register held 16,314 guides: 12,799 eylemli and 3,515 eylemsiz. So roughly one listed guide in five is not currently allowed to work, which is exactly why the status column is worth a glance.

National or regional licence: match the guide to your route

The Bölge field tells you where a guide may work. Some guides are licensed nationally (Ülkesel); others are licensed for one region: Marmara, Aegean (Ege), Mediterranean (Akdeniz), Central Anatolia (İç Anadolu), Black Sea (Karadeniz), Eastern Anatolia (Doğu Anadolu) or South-eastern Anatolia (Güneydoğu Anadolu). Under the law, a regional guide who works outside the region commits a disciplinary offence that can lead to a temporary ban.

The register's statistics, checked on 6 November 2026, show 10,480 guides with a national licence and 5,834 with a regional one.

What this means for your trip:

• One city only. A guide licensed for that region is fine. Istanbul falls in Marmara, Cappadocia in Central Anatolia, Ephesus in the Aegean.
• A multi-region tour with one guide throughout. The guide needs a national licence. Check that the register shows Ülkesel.
• A multi-region tour with local guides. Each local guide should be licensed for their own region, and you can check each name in turn.

Our multi-day Turkey tours use one of these two set-ups, and you can ask which one applies before you book.

Check the language before you book

The 2024 amendment to Law No. 6326 kept a strict rule: a guide may work only in the foreign languages written on the work card, or in Turkish when the guests speak it and ask for it. Guiding in a language that is not on the card can lead to a temporary ban.

The register lets you see how many guides hold each language. These are the active and inactive counts from TUREB's statistics page on 6 November 2026, for some of the languages our guests ask about most:

A guide can hold several languages, so these numbers overlap. The point for travellers is simple: English is easy anywhere, the larger European languages are well covered, and some languages have only a handful of licensed guides in the whole country. Guides in a rare language are arranged on request, subject to availability, and it is worth asking months rather than weeks ahead. If you want an English-speaking guide in Istanbul, see our Istanbul private tour guide page.

Warning signs, and what the law says

Most problems happen at the gate of a big site, where someone offers a cheap tour on the spot. These are the signs to walk away:

• No card, or a card kept in a pocket. A working guide must wear it visibly.
• A name that is not in the register. Since the 2024 amendment, guiding without a licence can be fined by the local governor's office. The amounts written in the law run from 25,000 to 100,000 Turkish lira, depending on the number of guests and the area.
• A "free" stop at a shop. The same amendment made it a fineable offence for a guide to take you to a shop without your knowledge and consent in return for a commission, with the same range of fines in the law. A carpet or ceramics visit is fine if you asked for it.
• A change of route or length without a reason. Under the law this can lead to a temporary ban for the guide.
• No written agreement, or a fee below the official minimum. The law requires a written guiding contract and a minimum fee tariff, and working without either is a disciplinary offence.

If a guide refuses to show a card, you do not have to argue. Thank them, keep your ticket and go in on your own; at most museums you can visit without a guide.

Booking through an agency: the second check

The guide's licence is half of the picture. In Turkey a guide may offer guiding only, and may not sell tours, package tours, transport or hotel rooms. Those are travel agency services. If your day includes a vehicle, a driver, flights or a hotel, the seller should be a licensed agency.

Agencies are checked separately. Ask for the agency's TÜRSAB number and look it up in the member search on TÜRSAB's own website. Get Turkey Tours is a licensed Turkish tour operator, TÜRSAB A-15751, operated by Viracocha Travel. Ask us for your guide's full name before the tour and you can run the register check yourself; if anything does not match on the day, message us on WhatsApp. You can read about the people behind the company on our team page.

Tours that cover this

• Private Istanbul Tour with a Licensed Guide: 1, 2 or 3 Days: from $199 per group.
• Istanbul Old City Private Tour: Hagia Sophia, Topkapi & Grand Bazaar: from $200 per person.
• Private Cappadocia Red Tour with lunch and your own guide: from $161 per person.
• Private Ephesus Tour: Full Day with Guide, Van & Skip-the-Line Access: from $300 per person.

For guide day rates and tipping, read what a private tour guide costs in Turkey. For site-by-site help, see our Hagia Sophia guided tour and Topkapı Palace guided tour pages, or browse all tours across Turkey.

Frequently Asked Questions