Investment Legislation
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Legal Framework in Turkey (2025 Update)
Turkey’s investment environment is built on a liberal, investor-friendly legal system aligned with international standards. At the core lies the Foreign Direct Investment Law No. 4875, which modernizes Turkey’s FDI regime.
Key Principles of the FDI Law
- Encouraging Investment: Facilitates foreign capital inflows.
- Equal Treatment: Guarantees national treatment, ensuring foreign investors enjoy the same rights as locals.
- International Alignment: Harmonizes definitions and practices with global standards.
- Less Bureaucracy: Replaces approval requirements with a notification-based system.
- Investment Security: Protects free profit transfer, safeguards against expropriation, and allows dispute resolution through national courts or international arbitration.
- Additional Provisions: Covers employment of foreign staff and establishment of liaison offices.
Bilateral & Multilateral Agreements
- Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs)
- Ensure legal security, fair treatment, and access to international arbitration.
- Turkey has 84 active BITs, spanning countries from the U.S. and Germany to China and Qatar.
- Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAAs)
- Prevents investors from being taxed twice on the same income.
- Currently, Turkey has 89 active DTAAs, with expansion ongoing.
- Social Security Agreements
- Protect employee rights (pensions, healthcare, etc.) across countries.
- Turkey has 35 agreements in force, easing international staff assignments.
- Customs Union & Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)
- Customs Union with the EU (since 1996): Removes tariffs on industrial and processed agricultural goods, integrating Turkey into EU supply chains.
- Free Trade Agreements: Over 20 FTAs with partners such as the UK, EFTA states, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and the UAE.
- Ongoing negotiations with Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Ukraine, GCC, and MERCOSUR further expand Turkey’s duty-free trade network.
✅ With its wide treaty network and liberal FDI framework, Turkey positions itself as a strategic hub offering duty-free access to multiple global markets.