When a relative or friend goes missing abroad it can be very distressing and you may feel at a loss as to what to do about it.

If you are in the UK and worried about a British national who you think is missing abroad, we can let you know how to produce a missing person's report for your local police so Interpol enquiries can begin.

Contact the FCO

Contact the FCO in London on 020 7008 1500 or if you are abroad yourself then contact us here.

Although we cannot carry out physical searches on your behalf, we can give you information about appropriate local authorities. We can also give you contact details for any relevant local charitable and voluntary organisations specialising in tracing missing people.

Detective agencies

Where appropriate, we can give you information about the federation or association of any local private detective agencies.

If you want, Consular staff in London can meet family representatives, maintain contact with you and tell you about any new developments.

If you suspect that a relative or friend is missing in Turkey you should contact the Foreign and Commonwealth office in London on + 44 207 008 1500 and ask for Consular Directorate. If you are in Turkey yourself, contact the nearest British Embassy or Consulates. It is important that you provide as much as information as possible about the missing person, for example:

Name, date and place of birth, passport details, insurance details, the last place, date and time contact was made, mobile number etc.

You or a relative in the UK, should report the person missing to your local police in the UK with a specific request that they inform the UK National Central Bureau of Interpol, who have resources and jurisdiction to investigate liase with the Turkish police.

What we can do for you

We can check our records to see if there is any trace of your relative or friend. If you want, consular staff in London can meet family representatives, maintain contact with you and tell about any new developments, which we find about.

Although we cannot carry out physical searches on your behalf, we can liase with local authorities and keep FCO informed of their progress.  

We can pass on to the appropriate UK authorities any requests from Turkish government for help.

This leaflet has been prepared by the British Embassy in Ankara for the convenience of enquirers.  Although all care has been taken in it's production, neither Her Majesty's Government nor any Consular Official in the British Embassy in Ankara take any responsibility for it's precise accuracy or for the consequences of any action taken in accordance with it's contents.

June 2008