Visa stamps are issued at the border/airport/etc for $20. It is unlikely you will be denied a visa.

Never been, but this site came to mind: http://www.sleepingi…

I think Turkish immigration officials can let you into the country for a short period of time without paying for a visa. We were on a cruise ship that docked in Kusadasi. I actually had a valid Turkish Visa, but most of the passengers on this Greek cruise ship did not. When we got off the ship, we were herded through an immigration office. Turkish officials collected our passports and issued fairly non-descript cards with name and passport number written on them. The official just looked at the picture/information page on my passport. He did not even leaf through it to look for the Turkish visa and I did not say that I had one. The card allowed you to spend some period of time (we were there about 8 hours) in Turkey. We got our passports back when we turned in the cards on the way back to the ship. We did not have to pay anything. While it’s possible that the cruise line paid something, I doubt that was the case.

As mim says, If this fails, just pay the $20 (I thought it was $15) and get a visa. I would make a point of having the correct amount (they won’t make change) in fairly crisp US bills — with no tears in them, in case you want to or need to get a visa..

It was $15 when I went, but I think the fee went up five bucks. And I wholly agree with what OL said — good clean US currency. (literally _clean; not figuratively — as that could be a problem)