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Turkey - Country Commercial GuideTürkiye, as a party to the GATT, conducts Free Trade Agreements in line with Article XXIV of GATT 1947. According to this Article, Türkiye may grant favorable treatment to its trading partners within a customs union or a free trade area without extending such treatment to all WTO members, subject to certain conditions.
Without prejudice to WTO provisions, the Türkiye-EU customs union constitutes the major legal basis of Türkiye’s free trade agreements (FTA). Under the customs union, Türkiye aligns its commercial policy with the EU’s Common Commercial Policy. This alignment concerns both autonomous regimes and preferential agreements with third countries. Türkiye negotiates and concludes free trade agreements with third countries in parallel with the EU. Together with the EU Common Customs Tariff, the preferential trade regimes constitute the most important part of the trade policy applied towards third countries.
Türkiye has concluded FTAs with 38 countries; however, 11 were repealed upon their accession to the EU. The remaining 22 FTAs in force are with EFTA, Israel, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Palestine, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Albania, Georgia, Montenegro, Serbia, Chile, Mauritius, South Korea, Malaysia, Moldova, Faroe Islands, Singapore, United Kingdom, Venezuela, and Kosovo. Additional FTAs signed with Lebanon, Sudan, and Qatar, will come into force once ratified by the relevant parliaments. Türkiye has been actively engaged in FTA negotiations with Indonesia, Japan, Somalia, Thailand, and Ukraine. Türkiye continues its efforts to speed up its ongoing FTA negotiations with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Cameroon, Chad, Seychelles, Gulf Cooperation Council, and MERCOSUR.
The Türkiye-EU customs union eliminated custom duties and quantitative restrictions. As a result of the customs union, Türkiye opened its internal market to EU and third-country competition, while securing free access to the EU market. In addition, Türkiye has sought to align itself to the preferential regimes that the EU applies to third countries and to harmonize its legislation with the EU’s acquis communautaire in a broad spectrum of areas, including standards and technical legislation, and competition policy. While negotiations to update the customs union were launched several years ago, talks have stalled.
A Tax Treaty Agreement between the United States and Türkiye for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income, together with a related Protocol, was signed in 1996 and became effective on January 1, 1998. See the full tax treaty here.
