Customs Law - What Can You Bring to Turkey

Bringing Household Items to Turkey

The good news is that you can bring household items into Turkey through a system called "temporary import", as long as you have a residence permit of a year or more. In this case, you will need to pay a deposit and take your items back when you return to your own country. You can find more information from the Undersecreteriat of Customs in Turkey at http://www.gumruk.gov.tr/ (there is an English section on the left-hand side).

If you plan to live in Turkey for longer, however, you can instead submit a bank guarantee letter (from a Turkish bank or well-known foreign bank in Turkey) to state that all customs duties will be paid if you do not remove your goods from Turkey at the end of your residency period (the first five years - residence permits last for a maximum of five years.) You do not need to extend the guarantee letter after the first five years.

You will find lots of reliable Turkish freight and shipping companies moving items to Turkey from anywhere in the world.

Bringing in your television? If you want to bring your television, radio, video, satellite receiver or anything similarly used for broadcasting in Turkey, you must pay a one-off ‘banderole’ fee to the customs authorities. This money goes to the TRT (Turkish Radio and Television Corporation), the national public broadcaster in Turkey. This figure is decided annually, so it is always wise to check before you travel. It currently stands at between 55 and 150 Euros for a color television, depending on the size; 25 to 30 Euros for a black and white set, 10-25 Euros for a radio, 180 Euros for a video or video camera that can receive television broadcasting and up to 70 Euros for satellite receivers.

For a full list of prices (fees differ by size and for combined equipment), see http://www.gumruk.gov.tr/english/traveler/Default.aspx (you will need to scroll down).

Do you need to bring household goods into Turkey? In a nutshell, no – not if you don’t want to! You’ll find furniture and household goods shops in every Turkish town, made to a high standard and reasonably priced.  

1.	What Can You Bring to Turkey
2.	Bringing Household Items to Turkey
3.	Bringing Your Pets to Turkey
4.	Bringing Your Car to Turkey

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