Is .com.tr still restricted? Who can register a .tr domain

The rules below come from the Internet Domain Names Regulation (Official Gazette, November 2010, No. 27752), the Internet Domain Names Communiqué (Official Gazette, August 2013, No. 28742) and the decisions that implement them. We cite the article numbers so you can check them.

Who can hold a .tr domain

Neither the Regulation nor the Communiqué restricts the open zones by nationality, residence or company type. Article 8 of the Regulation says an allocation is either documented (belgeli) or undocumented (belgesiz). For undocumented names, the first request to reach TRABİS wins. The Communiqué (Article 14) lets both individuals and legal entities apply through a registrar's web form.

Individuals and organisations

Which second levels need documents

The Board decision on documented allocation (December 2020, no. 2020/DK-BTD/346), Article 1, lists nine zones: .av.tr, .bel.tr, .dr.tr, .edu.tr, .gov.tr, .k12.tr, .kep.tr, .pol.tr and .tsk.tr. Every other second level on the Regulation's list is undocumented. That includes .com.tr, .net.tr, .org.tr, .biz.tr, .info.tr, .gen.tr, .web.tr, .name.tr, .tv.tr, .tel.tr and .bbs.tr.

Registering plain .tr

A name directly under .tr (example.tr) was opened through the a.tr procedures (August 2023, no. 2023/İK-BTD/244, in force September 2023). Priority went first to public bodies (Art. 4), then to qualifying .org.tr holders (Arts. 7 and 8), then to holders of the matching name under .com.tr, .net.tr, .gen.tr and other listed zones (Art. 9, amended January 2024 by decision 2024/DK-BTD/37). Priority allocations run for one year (Art. 14(5)).

After those phases, Article 12 applies first come, first served to whatever remains. Outside the priority phases the part before .tr must have at least four characters (Art. 14(8)); two and three characters are released only when BTK announces it (Art. 14(9)). Registrars and domain forums report that general availability started in September 2024. We did not find BTK's own dated announcement, so treat that month as reported, not confirmed.

What a foreign applicant supplies

Article 14 of the Communiqué lists the data the registrar must collect. For an individual it includes a Turkish ID number or a foreign ID number. For a legal entity it includes a tax identification number. The text does not say what a foreign company without a Turkish tax number should enter, and it contains no separate foreign-applicant article.

Reseller documentation shows how this is handled. CentralNic Reseller says a foreign company enters its own tax ID or a placeholder. Realtime Register says the ID field can be left empty for non-Turkish applicants, while tax office and tax number are mandatory for companies. This is registrar practice, not registry text, so ask your registrar what it submits before you pay.

What the rules say about trustees

The Regulation and Communiqué do not mention trustees, nominees or proxy holders. What they do contain bears on any arrangement where the name on the record is not the real user. In Article 14(2) the applicant undertakes to give "tam ve doğru bilgiler" (complete and correct information) and to report changes at once. Article 11 of the Regulation lists inaccurate holder data among the grounds for cancelling an allocation.

A trustee also has nothing to supply. Because the open zones do not require a local company, address or representative, a trustee does not satisfy any rule. One trustee vendor, 101domain, states that its trustee service is not available for .tr. That is a vendor statement we read in October 2026, not a registry rule.

Transfer and exit

Moving between registrars

Under Article 23(1) of the Communiqué a holder can change registrar on request. The losing registrar must answer within 24 hours (Art. 24(1)(e)) and cannot withhold the authorisation code over an unpaid balance (Art. 24(2)).

Changing the holder and selling

Regulation Article 13 allows sale and transfer, and Communiqué Article 22(1) allows sales three years after TRABİS started, which is from September 2025. Transfers between holders need the registrar's form and, for inheritance, mergers or trade mark transfers, supporting documents (Art. 22(2)). Reseller documentation (CentralNic Reseller, Realtime Register) says registrars could not yet change the registrant through their systems, and we found no published sale procedure. Treat a change of holder as unconfirmed until your registrar shows it working.

Giving a name up

A holder may waive an allocation (Regulation Art. 10; Communiqué Art. 22(5)). Use stops for two months, during which a request renews it, and then the name is released. The fee is not refunded (Regulation Art. 10).

How registration works

You apply through a registrar chosen from the list published on the TRABİS site. Terms run from one to five years per allocation, and a renewal cannot take the total past five (Regulation Art. 8 and 9). The registrar must notify you at least three months before expiry (Art. 9(1)). If you do not renew, use is suspended for two months, then the name reopens (Art. 9(3)).

The registry fee for a second-level name was 50 TL from February 2025 (decision 2024/DK-BTD/496, VAT included), and registrars add their own margin. We have not compared registrar prices, so this site has no prices page for .tr.

TRABİS' own FAQ gives the name format: letters a to z, digits and hyphens, two to 63 characters, no hyphen at the start or end. One reseller reference also lists Turkish letters such as ğ, ı, ü, ş, ö and ç, so confirm those with your registrar.

What the public lookup shows

TRABİS publishes a lookup at trabis.gov.tr/whois. We have not verified, field by field, what it shows for individuals and companies, so we make no privacy claim for .tr. Check a domain you already know before you rely on any registrar's privacy product.

If you cannot register directly

For the open zones this question rarely arises. The cases that remain are the nine documented zones, which are reserved for defined groups such as public bodies, schools, lawyers, doctors and mail providers. A foreign company outside those groups has no route to them. If your need is a Turkish presence in search, .com.tr is available directly.

We are not publishing a .tr trustee comparison, because the rules do not call for one. If a registrar still refuses a foreign applicant for an open zone, see our index of providers for services that handle other restricted extensions, and for what a local-presence service does, read what a trustee service is.

Frequently asked questions

Last updated October 2026. Registry policies change. If you spot something out of date, email info@trusteeindex.com.