I'm pretty sure that the legal drinking age in Turkey is in fact 18, but many places will turn a blind eye to it. Certainly, I've never seen anyone being asked for age ID before.

My Turkish friends always say to me.....'nothing is illegal in Turkey'

They will be fine

The legal drinking age in Turkey is 18, I asked my husband, he was a barman in Turkey, so that is correct.

Many bars don't seem to worry about it though so the chances are your 16 will be able to have a drink as long as you are ok with it.

Thanks for that, cant wait to tell a teenager that he was wrong :

Good luck,my teenager is never wrong,somehow it is always me,he would say it was me that told him 16 in the first place!!!!!

I see you are staying at an AI hotel, if they use wristbands you may find they are different colours for under and over 18's. Our daughter was given a child's wristband at 17.

As we know they seem to always get round that too sharon . It never takes my 17 yr old long to get himself an adult band and although he almost 18 he's definately been getting hold of them for the last 2/3 years . Usually either by getting hold of someones just going home or going back to reception at some point and saying his has been lost/broken . All they say is how old are you and he say's 18 . bingo . This year he went back to the reception said he hadnt been given one and gave his elder brothers name who was with him just in case .

At the end of the day he does have a beer or 3 as many do and I don't really want his holiday ruined if he can't be one of the crowd.

If you have booked them as an adult the reception wont have details of their ages on the booking . They rely on your /their honesty and the age you give when asked . Ok sometimes they take all passports but ive never actually known them to check them when handing over bands .

I don't think he will have any problem outside of the hotel.

They checked our daughter's passport every time we went to the Belcekiz Lyn! Last time we went we asked to see the manager and said she was almost 18 and we had to pay adult price for her. He reluctantly gave her an adult band but a couple of the waiters knew how old she was and they did pull a face about it. The younger waiters would sometimes serve her even when she had the childs band on though so I would say it's a bit hit and miss.

My daughter (16...looks a lot older, and is sensible about her drinking..I know she is too young but I would sooner her drink with me around than out and about with friends), doesn't drink in the hotel (mainly because of the prices...we go HB and they are ). She does have a couple of drinks in one of the bars in the resort...they know how old she is but don't mind. The drinks she drinks are never strong...they always come out stronger for me which is a problem (as I don't drink at home so it goes straight to my head ). She has been doing that since last year. Funnily enough, the one and only time she has ever got drunk was in turkey in october...our hotel closed at 8am the next day and we had to rush packing and get out. One way to get a slightly hungover teenager out of bed (threaten to leave her clothes if she doesn't pack), and she hasn't drunk again since

As long as the parents have no problem with it, then there should be no problem. After all its legal for 16/17 year olds to drink in a pub with a meal accompanied by adults in the UK. And its legal for them to drink at home as well.

we had our holiday ruined several years ago by a family who let their teens drink, when the parents were around they were quite sensible but
oh dear when they were not all hell broke loose, in the end the police were involved because one teen get quite violent with the barstaff when he refused
to serve him any more alchohol, the whole family ended up being removed from the hotel all because of some stupid drunken teen (who should not have
been drinking at his age anyway). Sorry rant over. I do know that not all teens are like this but i still do not agree with underage drinking.

Andy

Agreed, Andy, but there is a big difference between underagers being allowed to get drunk unsupervised and the situation described by CloClo, for instance, where a 16 or 17-year-old might be having a couple of drinks with their parents along with a meal. That is, after all, legal in this country too and is perhaps even a way of showing them how to handle alcohol responsibly and in a mature manner.

That's understandable Andy, although I would imagine that most people who drink far too much and cause problems are over the age limit. Unfortunately some people just don't know when to stop...

My son is nearly 17 and doesn't like anything fizzy or strong and ,as yet,hasn't even had a can of shandy ,let alone beer.If he ever decides to try a drink I wouldn't hesitate to let him but would ask that he does it at home or whilst with us,I was a bar manager at our local airport for 7 years and had a good rapport with the underage plane spotters,they knew never to ask for alcohol but as soon as they turned 18 I personally paid for their first drink.I have 4 children and have never bought any of them alcohol in a pub whilst underage,but have allowed them to drink at home.

sorry if you all misunderstand what i am trying to say?
all kids up to the age of 18 should be taught by their parents how to drink responsibly.
not left to their own devices, to go get an arm band pretend to be 18 and get kaylied,
this is not the behavior that should be accepted by either parents or any other responsible adult.

i am not a prude nor do i declaire to be a saint i never have been nor ever will be.
but i do expect while on holiday especialy, that parents regardless of their childrens
ages, to accept responsibilty for their actions ,and any parent that does not accept this is also
responsible for whatever comes their way.

sorry i hate to sound so neggative but how many holidays have been ruined by teens
out of control i would live to know?

andy

One of my lads is 19 and the other almost 18 . At the end of the day he is only 17 so still under the legal age but I hope I have brought them up well enough to show respect to fellow guests and not be stupid . Generally you will find that security staff keep an eye out anyway

I would go as far as saying neither am I nieve enough to think they havnt been sick after too much drink on holiday as I know they have just the once and that was when they were given numerous glasses of Raki or Ouzo (cant remember which) by an over entusiastic barman on the 2nd night of their holiday . They learnt a valuable lesson that night and to my knowledge have never had the desire to repeat the experience . I'm aware that they have drunk alcohol on holiday since the age of 16 and there is no way at this age that they would want to spend their evenings with us . I am happy for all of this as I would rather them holiday with us which they are still happy to do as long as we give them the space to do what lads of that age do .

I am thankful that my 17 year old is not heading off to Malia where all this friends of the same age are going this summer and we all know they wont be out drinking coke and coming in at 10pm . Much to his disappointment he is holidaying with his parents .

lyn

I know it may seem that some of us are condoning under age drinking but it's more about responsible drinking. My daughter's "prom" was ruined because a few of her mates were drunk and either throwing up or passing out etc. These boys and girls were the ones that had been "let out" for the first time and it was the first time they had access to alcohol. I was one of a very few parents NOT to be telephoned by a teacher and asked to collect their child. She had had a couple of drinks but was absolutely fine as she knew her limits. To ban something totally makes it oh so much more attractive to them,that my opinion and it's worked well for us. Our eldest popped round after work to say bye as she goes away Thursday, we had a discussion about how much spending money she should take, not a lot she said as she wasn't going to be buying alcoholic drinks,she would just have a glass of wine with evening meal and she only ever drinks water during the day. She is 25.

i know of a 12 year old getting served a fishbowl and shots last year - how bad is that!

and what makes it worse is that her mother knew all about it!

shocking eh x

That's terrible, alizda. As I said, I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing to allow older teens, such as 16 and 17-year-olds, the odd drink in a responsible manner, but I would never condone a 12-year-old drinking - a fishbowl and shots??? What on earth was her mother thinking about?

terrible isn't it - the mother was too concerned about her gin & tonics to be that bothered I think!

she was a very very spoilt little girl hanging around with 16 & 17 year olds and trying to act that age - was quite sad to see x

my daughter is exactly the same age and even she was shocked by her behaviour xx