Gender Selection with IVF in Turkey: Is It Possible?

The short answer is no, and the longer answer explains what is permitted: genetic testing for medical reasons, how that differs from choosing a sex, and what the alternatives actually involve.

Written and kept up to date by the CureBooking medical travel team · Last updated October 2026

The short answer

No. Sex selection for personal or family-balancing reasons is not permitted in Turkey. Any clinic offering it is offering something outside the rules it is licensed under, and that should tell you how it treats every other rule.

What is permitted is pre-implantation genetic testing where there is a medical indication — most relevantly a sex-linked inherited disease, where the sex of the embryo is clinically relevant. That is a diagnosis-driven process with documentation, not a choice you make.

If non-medical sex selection is your goal, the honest answer is that you will be looking at countries where it is legal — among them Northern Cyprus, parts of the United States and a small number of others — and that is a decision to research with the clinic's own regulator, not from a marketing page.

Why it is prohibited here

Turkish assisted-reproduction regulation permits embryo genetic testing for medical purposes and prohibits selecting embryos by sex for any other reason. The prohibition is about the purpose, not the technology: the same test that identifies a sex-linked disease also reveals sex, which is exactly why its use is tied to an indication.

The practical effect for a patient: a licensed Turkish centre will test embryos when there is a documented medical reason, will tell you the clinical result, and will not let you pick. A centre that offers to is either not licensed or is risking its licence — and in both cases you are relying on a clinic that breaks rules when it is commercially convenient.

What counts as a medical indication

A known sex-linked inherited condition in the family — haemophilia and Duchenne muscular dystrophy are the classic examples — where the risk falls on one sex.
A single-gene disorder carried by one or both parents, tested for directly rather than by sex.
Chromosomal rearrangements in a parent, recurrent miscarriage, or repeated failed cycles, where testing is used to select a viable embryo rather than a sex.
In each case the indication is documented before testing is planned, and the testing is part of the IVF cycle, not an add-on service.

The questions worth asking instead

If you arrived here because a clinic advertised sex selection "in Turkey", the useful next questions are about the clinic rather than the technique.

Is the centre licensed for assisted reproduction, and who is the licence holder?
What is the medical indication being recorded for the genetic testing in my case?
Which country will the treatment physically take place in? Some advertising blurs Turkey and Northern Cyprus, which have different rules — you are entitled to know where you will be treated and under which legal framework.
What happens to embryos that are not transferred, and what consent am I signing about storage?
Who is my contact afterwards, and what does the price include?

A note on Northern Cyprus advertising

A great deal of "gender selection in Turkey" marketing actually describes treatment in Northern Cyprus, where the legal framework differs. That is not automatically a problem — but being unclear about it is. If a clinic's website says Turkey and its consent forms say somewhere else, you have learned something important.

We do not arrange IVF at present, in Turkey or Cyprus, and we are not going to collect an enquiry by implying that we do. What we will do, if you write, is tell you plainly what Turkish rules allow.

If the underlying goal is a successful pregnancy

Patients who come to sex selection through repeated failed cycles or miscarriage are often better served by looking at why the cycles failed. Embryo genetic testing for chromosomal problems, investigation of the uterine environment, male-factor assessment and weight are the things that actually move the odds, and all four are permitted and routinely addressed in Turkey.

Weight in particular is worth a separate look: it affects both natural conception and IVF outcomes, and it is one of the few factors a patient can change before a cycle. It is also the part of this picture we do arrange treatment for.

Questions people ask

Is gender selection legal anywhere nearby?

Rules differ by country and change; Northern Cyprus is the destination most often advertised to patients in Europe, and some US clinics offer it. Verify the current legal position with the clinic's own national regulator rather than with the clinic's marketing.

Can PGT tell the sex of the embryo?

Technically yes — the test reports chromosomes, which includes sex. Whether that information may be used to choose an embryo is a legal and ethical question, and in Turkey the answer is no outside a medical indication.

What if I have a sex-linked disease in the family?

Then there is a recognised medical indication, and genetic testing can be part of your treatment plan at a licensed centre. Bring the family history and any genetic reports to the first consultation; that documentation is what the indication rests on.

Do you arrange this treatment?

No. We arrange dental, hair, plastic and bariatric treatment. We do not currently have an IVF partner, and we will not take an IVF enquiry pretending that we do.