Forbidden zones and size limitation

 

Foreign nationals and foreign commercial companies are not allowed to buy property in the military, strategic and security zones of Turkey.

In addition, the Council of Ministers is authorised to determine specific zones to be preserved such as lands which are strategically very important in terms of energy, agriculture, mining, history, cultural values, biological flora, and national security. Thus, foreign nationals and foreign commercial companies will not be able to buy property in those specially preserved zones.

In other words, TAPU offices are supposed to check whether a property that is being purchased by a foreign national is within one of those forbidden zones or not.

Upon your application, the local TAPU office will do a search on behalf of you whether the asset is in a forbidden zone or not. If the information provided by military authorities confirms that the real estate is outside the military and security zones, then your application is automatically accepted.

Please also note that military clearance may take a considerable time and it may be worth checking at what stage the procedure is. Thus, you are advised to gather the contact information of the TAPU office you are using so that you can call the authorities later.

In case the total area of all lands you will own in Turkey cannot exceed 2.5-hectares (25,000 m2) then the Council of Ministers’ approval is needed. (Please note that the Law allows the Council of Ministers to increase this threshold to 30 hectares).

The maximum size of all lands owned by foreign real persons in a province shall be capped by the Council of Ministers and this cap cannot be more than 0.5% of the total area of the whole province.