People usually send documents, clothes, gifts and personal medicines to Turkey with a traveler. Turkish customs lets a passenger bring personal belongings and goods for themselves, their family or as gifts worth up to 430 euros duty-free. Meat and dairy products are banned, and a phone brought as a gift will not be released to its owner.
What you can usually send
You can send things that look neither like a commercial shipment in quantity nor in nature. Turkish customs calls these a passenger's goods for personal or family use or as gifts.
- Documents: certificates, powers of attorney, original papers.
- Clothes, shoes, books, gifts: within 430 euros per passenger, together with the traveler's own purchases.
- Medicines for personal treatment: a reasonable amount for the length of stay, with a document from a doctor: a medical report, a doctor's note or a prescription.
- Sweets, tea and coffee: 1 kg each of tea, coffee, instant coffee, chocolate and sweets. The chocolate and sweets allowances can be combined: up to 2 kg of one kind.
What you cannot send or should avoid
Some things will not pass into Turkey even in small amounts. Others are formally allowed but cause trouble for the traveler at the border.
- Meat, milk and products made from them: banned. This is a direct ban by the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture for personal shipments.
- A phone as a gift: a phone cannot come in as a gift within the 430 euros, and it will not be released to its owner. A passenger can bring one phone as a personal item once every three years, registered to their own number, with a fee of 54,258 lira in 2026.
- Fruit, vegetables and other plant food: fresh and dried fruit and vegetables up to 3 kg, other plant products up to 1 kg. More counts as a commercial shipment.
- Animals: no more than two cats, dogs or birds, with a veterinary certificate and vaccination records. Sending an animal with a stranger is a bad idea.
- Medicines with narcotic or psychotropic substances: we did not find rules for them in public customs sources. Do not send such medicines until you confirm the requirements with Turkish customs.
- Power banks and spare batteries: on a plane, carry-on only, never in checked baggage. Under the IATA 2026 guidance, you can take no more than two power banks, each up to 100 Wh; larger ones are forbidden, and you can't charge them from the aircraft power supply. Spare batteries for devices: up to 100 Wh without approval, 100 to 160 Wh with the airline's approval and no more than two per device, over 160 Wh not allowed. Airlines may set stricter rules.
- Someone else's cash: under our rules, you cannot send any cash that belongs to another person.
Duty-free allowances
Turkish allowances apply to each passenger. Alcohol and tobacco allowances do not apply to passengers under 18.
- Goods for personal or family use and gifts: up to 430 euros, up to 150 euros for passengers under 15.
- Above the allowance: up to 1,500 euros per passenger, a flat tax applies: 30% if the goods came directly from the EU, 60% from other countries. An item worth more than 1,500 euros is cleared at regular import duties.
- Alcohol: 1 liter of drinks over 22% and 2 liters of drinks up to 22%.
- Tobacco: 600 cigarettes, 100 cigarillos, 50 cigars, 250 g of cut tobacco with 200 rolling papers or 250 g of pipe tobacco. Each allowance can be used separately.
- Perfume and cosmetics: perfume, cologne and lotions up to 600 ml in total, plus 5 skin care and makeup products.
- Cash: when leaving Turkey, foreign currency over 10,000 euros and Turkish lira over 185,000 must be declared.
Customs determines the value of an item from a receipt or proof of payment. If there is no document or the amount looks understated, customs sets the value itself.
How to pack and what to check at handover
The traveler should see everything they carry. So the parcel is packed in front of them, not handed over as a closed box.
- Show every item at the meeting. The traveler does not take anything sealed.
- Add a receipt if the item is new: customs will use it to assess the value.
- For medicines: original packaging and a doctor's note or prescription.
- Take photos of the contents and of the packed parcel. The photos help both of you.
- Agree in advance who will meet the traveler in Turkey, and share the recipient's contacts.
Who is responsible at the border
The person carrying the parcel is responsible. At Turkish customs the parcel counts as the traveler's goods. If an allowance is exceeded or an item is banned, the traveler pays the tax or does the explaining.
Choosing the green channel does not make a prohibited item allowed: the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs says so directly. If the luggage exceeds the allowances, the traveler needs the red channel. A traveler can refuse an item if they are not sure it can be brought in.
Find a traveler to Turkey
Trips to Turkey are collected on route pages, for example Moscow → Istanbul and Moscow → Antalya. All directions are on the routes page.
If there is no suitable trip, post a request: travelers on your route will see it and respond. The price calculator suggests how much to offer for delivery.
Sources
- Ministry of Trade of Turkey: passenger allowances (Yolcu Muafiyetleri)
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey: information on Turkish customs
- Ministry of Treasury and Finance of Turkey: communiqué No. 2008-32/34 on carrying cash out
- IATA: passengers travelling with lithium batteries
- Parcelane: prohibited and restricted items
Checked: November 2026. Rules change, so check the Turkish customs website before the trip.