There are four types of special investment zone in Turkey:

1. TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT ZONES - TECHNOPARKS

. Technology Development Zones (TDZs) are areas designed to support R&D activities and attract investments in high technology fields.
. There are 30 TDZs of which 18 are operational, whereas 12 have been approved and are currently under construction. Ankara has six TDZs, Istanbul has three, Kocaeli has three, and other provinces listed in the pop-up table have one each.

[+] List of TDZs in Turkey

ADVANTAGES OF TDZs:

. Offices ready to rent and infrastructure facilities provided.
. Profits derived from software and R&D activities are exempt from income and corporate taxes until December 31st, 2013.
. Deliveries of application software produced exclusively in TDZs are exempt from VAT until December 31st, 2013. Examples include software for systems management, data management, business applications, different business sectors, the Internet, mobile phones, and military command control.
. Salaries of researchers,  along with software and R&D personnel employed in the zone are exempt from all taxes until December 31st, 2013.
. A VAT exemption is provided for IT specific sectors during the exemption period for income and corporate taxes.
. Exemption from customs duties as well as fund levies.
. Academic staff is encouraged to establish companies, participate in a recognized company or join its executive boards as well as to conduct research in the zones.

2. ORGANIZED INDUSTRIAL ZONES (OIZs)

Organized Industrial Zones (OIZs) are designed to allow companies providing goods and services to operate within approved boundaries with the necessary infrastructure, techno parks, and social facilities.

. The infrastructure provided in the zones includes roads, water, natural gas, electricity, communications, waste treatment, and other services.
.There are 251 OIZs in 81 provinces, 127 of which are currently operational, while the remaining 124 OIZs are being constructed throughout Turkey.

[+] List of OIZs in operation by province

Advantages of OIZs in 54 prioritized provinces

Investors operating in the zones located in 50 selected provinces benefit from the following advantages:

Incentives for the 50 provinces seen in the map below (grey):

. 100% exemption from income tax for employed workers.
. 100% exemption from the employer’s share of social security costs.
. Up to 50% support for electricity costs.
. Exemption from real estate tax, waste water charges, building construction duties, and the use-of-building.

[+] 50 Prioritized provinces and provinces with free land allocation only

3. INDUSTRIAL ZONES

. Industrial zones are designed to provide sites suitable for large scale and technology intensive investments.
. The Council of Ministers approves the industrial zones after evaluation of the investment sites by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
. Investments made in an industrial zone should be in a high technology sector and have an investment site of a minimum of 1,500 m2.
. Industrial zones benefit from all of the same advantages provided to OIZs.

4. FREE ZONES

. Free zones are special sites considered outside the customs area although they are within the political borders of the country. These zones are designed to increase the number of export-focused investments.
. Legal and administrative regulations in commercial, financial and economic fields that are applicable within the customs area are either not implemented or partially implemented in the free zones.
. There are 20 free zones in Turkey operating close to the EU and Middle East markets adjacent to major Turkish ports on the Mediterranean, Aegean and Black Seas, with easy access to international trade routes.

[+] Free zones list

Advantages of free zones:

. 100% exemption from customs duties and other assorted duties.
. 100% exemption from corporate income tax for production companies.
. 100% exemption from value added tax (VAT) and special consumption taxes.
. Goods can remain in free zones for an unlimited period; earnings and revenues generated in free zones can be freely transferred to any country, including Turkey, without any prior permission.
. Goods in free circulation can be sent to Turkey or to EU countries from the free zones without any customs duty. Moreover, no customs duty is applied to goods of a third country origin at the entrance to the free zones or exit to third countries.
. Companies are free to transfer profits from free zones abroad as well as to Turkey without restrictions.