Which Photo Do Turkish Military Service, Academies and Police Ask For?

Do You Need an ID Photo for Military Service in Turkey?

Short answer: no photo is uploaded when you do your military registration (yoklama) on e-Devlet. According to the conscription service of the Ministry of National Defence (MSB), if you give explicit consent to the use of your biometric photo, “your photo will be loaded automatically”; if you do not consent, or there is no biometric photo registered in the system, you cannot continue on e-Devlet and you start the registration at the nearest military recruitment office (MSB conscription service, in Turkish). The photo comes from your NVİ record, so a printed ID photo plays no part in this step (photo upload guide).

In registration the photo confirms identity: under Article 9 of the Conscription Regulation, the examining doctor (first of all the conscript's family doctor) checks “the photo and identity details in the documents on which the registration is based”. For the dispatch document you apply to the recruitment office with your Turkish ID card; the FAQs on paid military service (bedelli), reserve officers, reserve NCOs and discharge do not mention a photo. If you are starting registration at the office, ask the office which documents to bring; we found no published list saying that offices require a printed photo.

Printed photos are really asked for in military school final registration and for the MSB smart card. When a list gives no size, the Turkish definition of a biometric photo applies: according to NVİ, 50×60 mm on a plain white background, the same standard as the Turkish ID card photo. If a list states another size, that size applies.

How Many Photos for Military Academy and MSÜ Final Registration?

The 2026 final registration notices of the National Defence University (MSÜ) give the number school by school. The Army Academy (Kara Harp Okulu) notice (a Word file, in Turkish) asks for “6 biometric photos taken within the last 6 months (white background)”; male candidates are photographed “with hair and beard shaved, without sideburns”, female candidates “with hair tied up”. The Air Force and Naval Academies ask for 2 biometric photos each on the same terms, and the Student Selection Flight asks for “2 ID photos” with hair and beard shaved for men and hair tied up for women; the Army and Air Force NCO Vocational School lists have no photo item.

The notices give no size; they say “biometric”, which in Turkey means a 50×60 mm (5×6 cm) photo on white. A 10×15 sheet holds four 50×60 mm photos: the Army Academy's six take two sheets, and the Air Force or Naval Academy's two come from one sheet. The Student Selection Flight list gives no size; ask the unit that published the notice. The numbers for other documents are in the how many ID photos table.

The exam application asks for no printed photo: the MSÜ exam follows ÖSYM rules, ÖSYM uses the Turkish ID card photo or a photo taken at an application centre within the last 50 months, and no file is uploaded (exam photo guide). No photo requirement was found either on personeltemin.msb.gov.tr, where preferences are made.

Do Police Schools (PMYO, POMEM) and Gendarmerie Recruitment Ask for a Photo?

In the 2026 intake of the Police Vocational School (PMYO), the application documents in the 25th term announcement dated 7 August 2026 include no printed photo. The candidate instructions give one step for the photo: “Update it by clicking the Update Photo from ÖSYM button.” So a PMYO candidate's photo is the one held by ÖSYM: the ID card photo or one taken at an application centre.

The 33rd term guide of the Police Vocational Training Centre (POMEM) asks for a printed photo in one case only: “candidates whose exam entry document has no photo will bring a biometric photo taken within the last year.” The guide states no number, size or background. Check your entry document first; if it has no photo, prepare a biometric 50×60 mm frame on white.

The gendarmerie's 2026 recruitment guides (specialist sergeant, regular NCO, JAMYO and the Faculty of Security Sciences of the Gendarmerie and Coast Guard Academy) ask candidates for no photo; the only exception is the photo box on the “QUALIFICATION CERTIFICATE” form for candidates under arms, privates and corporals in the specialist sergeant guide. The Gendarmerie institutional ID card page publishes no photo requirement either.

For police staff cards the regulation requires “a digital photo taken on a white ground showing the head and face”; on the retiree card the photo is taken in civilian clothes within the last 6 months. For an in-person private security ID card application, the General Directorate of Security asks for 2 biometric photos on white in light-coloured clothing (private security card photo); for a firearms licence see the firearms licence photo page.

MSB Smart Card Photo: What Are the Rules for Family Members, Retirees and Staff?

On the MSB smart card, the photo follows one document whether you are serving staff, a retiree or a family member. The Photo Specifications for Smart Cards (in Turkish): “Photos must be biometric. Stamp-size photos are not accepted under any circumstances.” The background must be “white and plain”, the photo “taken within the last 1 (one) year and natural” and not altered with photo editing software. The ministry's 2026 list of required documents counts 2 biometric photos for every application type.

Serving military personnel are photographed in the No. 1 daily uniform and retirees in civilian clothes; Article 6 of the document is explicit: “Except for serving military personnel, uniformed photos are not used on smart cards.” Family members are photographed in civilian clothes too, and a retiree's old uniformed photo is not used on the retiree card.

The document gives no size in millimetres and does not define “stamp size”. If the office asks for 2.5×3.2 cm, the 25×32 mm military smart card product in our catalogue is right; if no size is given, 50×60 mm is safer, with details on the military smart card photo size page. The wizard does not change your face; it sets the crop and turns the background white. As the document does not define background cleanup, the simplest route is a shadow-free shot against a plain white wall.

What Are the Beard, Hair and Uniform Rules in a Military Photo?

The strictest rule is in military academy registration: MSÜ's 2026 notices ask male candidates for a photo with hair and beard shaved and no sideburns, and female candidates for one with hair tied up; the Air Force and Naval Academies set the same condition. Shave before the shoot; a frame taken earlier with a beard or sideburns does not meet this condition.

For a conscript in registration, the photo is already the biometric photo held by NVİ, and there is no announced official text banning a “bearded photo” for conscripts; MSB's beard rule covers only the card of serving military personnel: a bearded photo may be used where the duty requires it with ministry permission. The general beard and hair rules for a biometric photo are in the beard and hair guide.

Uniform is used only on a serving soldier's smart card. On a police officer's card the photo follows the dress regulation for members of the police service class; a police retiree is photographed in civilian clothes and a private security applicant in light-coloured clothing. The background is white in all of these procedures.

The AI sets the size and head ratio for the document; it checks sharpness, pose, expression, light and background and whitens the background. It does not check shaving, sideburns, whether your hair is tied up or the uniform or civilian clothing rule; those are up to you at the shoot. The frames in this section show a correct photo next to the most common mistakes.