Tourists at İstanbul’s historic sites are being steered into overpriced ticket packages, according to a report alleging that a company owned by a relative of Turkey’s culture and tourism minister has hidden standard-price tickets at the Hagia Sophia Mosque and added undisclosed charges at the İstanbul Archaeology Museums.
Visitors told the Karar daily that staff at ticket counters run by DEM Müzecilik say the €25 standard ticket for the Hagia Sophia gallery floor is “unavailable” and instead offer only a €50 combo package that includes the Experience Museum at the Hippodrome.
The practice reportedly goes beyond physical ticket booths. QR codes on information boards near Hagia Sophia direct visitors to DEM Müzecilik’s website, where the €50 package appears as the first and sometimes only option, making the €25 ticket nearly impossible to find online as well, the report said.
At the İstanbul Archaeology Museums, complaints take a different form. In reviews cited by Karar, visitors writing on Google Maps said they were charged €30 instead of the €15 ticket price after staff added an unsolicited “headphone fee” to their credit cards. Those who objected reportedly faced hostile treatment and were denied refunds.
DEM Müzecilik also operates ticket counters and Experience Museums at the ancient cities of Ephesus and Hierapolis. Opposition politicians and tourism sector representatives say a similar model is already in place at Ephesus, where the entry fee rose from about €23 to €40 in 2024. They say €17 of that amount, or about 43 percent, goes to DEM Müzecilik whether or not the visitor tours the Experience Museum and claim the higher price has led to more cancellations.
DEM Müzecilik is owned by Mehmet Uğur Esin, the brother-in-law of Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy.
Republican People’s Party (CHP) İstanbul lawmaker Oğuz Kaan Salıcı raised the issue publicly in February 2025 in a post on X and in remarks to the Sözcü daily. Salıcı claimed that none of the ticket revenue, which he estimated at about €50 million a year, was transferred to the state and called on Ersoy to resign.
The Directorate General of Foundations rejected that claim. The agency said Hagia Sophia is managed by the foundations authority and that its revenues are kept in foundations accounts and audited by the Court of Accounts. However, the terms of the operating agreement with DEM Müzecilik and the company’s share of the revenue have not been made public.
Former and current DEM Müzecilik employees have also spoken out. Former staff members told Karar that the company required 50 to 60 percent of daily ticket sales to come from the €50 packages and that employees who failed to meet the target were fired. Workers said the only way to meet those quotas was to mislead tourists and that many colleagues either quit rather than comply or were dismissed for falling short.
Former employees said confrontations between ticket staff and tourists happen every day and that police are often called. Despite repeated complaints, no action has been taken against the company, they said.