Gun laws in the Turkish Republic?

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MatthewVanitas

MatthewVanitas

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At a few points, I've considered living in Turkey for a year or so, depending on how some job options turn out.

For those who have lived and worked in Turkey, any insight into Turkish gun laws, particularly as they apply to Americans living in Turkey?

I tried to get some handle on the laws by asking Turks. My general impression is that Turks can own shotguns and pistols in the home, but usually can't get carry licenses.

Some Turks down in Turkish Kurdistan told me that all rifles are illegal in Turkey, but up in Trabzon I noticed some guys looking over an M1 Garand in a local shop, and they didn't seem at all nonplussed when I walked in to look it over. Are rifles just illegal in the Kurdish areas due to local problems?

Great country overall: good food, great variety of terrain, secular constitutional republic (with a military that throws coups if the elected officials don't follow the constitution...), etc. Plus, on average Turks are far kinder to Americans than in any of the other countries I've been to.

Thanks for any insight from those living in the Turkish Republic, or who've spent time there in the past.
 
I lived there for a year back in the 70's. Outstanding place. Wonderful people and food that was excellent.

Got to live in a town called Balikesir. Had an apartment and two maids for about $50 a month. Western Turkey is very different from the Camels and Sand nature of Eastern Turkey. More like central California from a climate perspective.

I travelled the country extensively and saw as much of it as I could. If memory serves five of the original seven wonders of the world were in what is now Turkey.

I don't know what the gun laws are. I was in the military.

But you won't need to worry about having anything stolen or your place broken into unless you live in one of the large cities like Izmir or Istanbul. I never locked my apartment and I never locked my bike.
 
AFAIK, no rifles and no military calibers, and no carry. Thus, it's a shotgun at home. Also no knife carry.
 
Oddly enough, I'm living in Ankara right now :)

Like any other third world country (and San Francisco, but I repeat myself), those who make the rules can break the rules for themselves or their friends. A local friend has a permit for his two pistols (permits here allow not only ownership, but carry...go figure...), despite nothing but family connections and a fair bit of money. "Normal" Turks can own shotguns, but nothing rifled (to include pistols and rifles, naturally).

All that said, if you wander down to Van you can get whatever you want (the last time I was there, AK's were getting a bit steep...up to fifty bucks or so). Getting caught with one WITHOUT friends...not a good idea. Turkish prisons are not quite the horror show that they are supposed to be (like, for example, Kuwait or Saudi) but they are still not Club Fed.

The Turks tend to be very nice people, and the country itself is a facinating example of what happens when a strong-willed and intelligent leader drags his people out of the Islamic horror show that the rest of the region is still stuck in. Too bad he drunk himself to death before he was finished putting the country together (sigh), although Turkey is still FAR superior to any of the other Middle Eastern countries that I have lived or visited over the last sixteen years.

No pistols puts a crimp (so to speak) in my favorite sport, but I've been quite happy here.



Alex

PS yes, technically there is a "no knife" law, but that one is followed about as well as the traffic laws...I entertain myself here playing "guess that knife from the pocket clip" as often as I do in America. I carry an AFCK, FWIW, and the only comment I got the last time I was patted down (going in the regional police HQ) was "...nice!" And they were not talking about my flabby abs ;)

AW
 
If memory serves five of the original seven wonders of the world were in what is now Turkey.
Click to expand...
Only two of them are located in what is modern Turkey: The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus and the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. The others are in Egypt, Greece, and Iraq. The Ottoman Turks had all seven at the height of their power.
 
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