Phone cards in Turkey

In the beginning of the comp, all the pilots and team leaders bought Turkcell sim cards to get Turkish phone numbers, cheaper calls and texts, and better reception.
Unfortunately all the information is in Turkish, also the text messages from Turkcell. Today I figured out that one text might mean that they want the IMEI number of my phone registered or they will lock my phone on Sept 2nd... I asked Tugi, one of the Turkish pilots, and he said my interpretation is correct, and Im not the only pilot with that problem. So they will bring someone from Turkcell to take off today and register everybody´s phone with passport number. It is meant to be a safety against stolen phones.
I had read about this problem online, but when we tried to register our phones, they told us we have to go to a big shop in Kayseri, and we did not have the time to do that. I am curious how this system works exactly, and I hope all our phones will be "freed" soon! (Luckily I brought 3 phones, just in case one or the other has a problem, so I could switch cards...) Having a working mobile phone out here is vital!