Is prostitution legal in Turkey?
Legal & regulated
Prostitution is legal and regulated in Turkey, but most sex workers are unregistered.
Turkey is one of 73 countries classified “Legal & regulated” for sex work — 33% of the 219 with data. (Also searched as prostitution.)
Source
- Taken from
- Wikipedia: Prostitution in Europe
- Last checked
- 7 July 2026
- How it was classified
- Classified by a language model from the source text, then checked against hand-verified reference countries.
Nearby countries
- Syria
- Illegal Prostitution is technically illegal in Syria but occurs among Syrian women and Iraqi refugees due to war conditions.
- Cyprus
- Illegal Prostitution itself is not illegal in Cyprus, but related activities like brothel operation and forced prostitution are criminalized.
- Lebanon
- Illegal Prostitution is nominally legal but most brothels operate illegally due to lack of new licenses being issued.
- Georgia
- Illegal Prostitution is illegal in Georgia but widespread, particularly in Tbilisi.
- Armenia
- Illegal Prostitution is illegal in Armenia, with related activities like running brothels prohibited by law.
- Israel
- Buying illegal (Nordic model) Prostitution is legal in Israel but buying sex is criminalized, with new legislation targeting clients taking effect in 2020.
Other laws in Turkey
- Same-Sex Marriage
- Not recognized
- Same-Sex Activity
- Legal
- Pornography
- Illegal
- Divorce
- Legal
- Same-Sex Adoption
- Limited (step-child / single)
- Incest Laws
- Legal between adults
- Marriage Age
- 18+
A visual reference compiled from Wikipedia’s law-by-country articles, not legal advice. Laws change and summaries simplify — check a primary source before relying on anything here.