Short answer: A Turkey payment gateway that collects payments must be run by a bank, a payment or e-money institution licensed by the Central Bank (TCMB), or PTT, because Law No. 6493 Article 13 bars anyone else from providing payment services. As read on 6 November 2026, TCMB lists 20 payment institutions and 55 e-money institutions. PayPal's Turkish page says its service stopped in June 2016, Stripe's country list omits Turkey, and crypto assets may not be used for payments.
A foreign merchant needs three answers: who may collect from a Turkish cardholder, whether a Turkish company is needed, and what the checkout must support. Each rule below was read on 6 November 2026 in texts from the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (TCMB, also written CBRT), the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) or Law No. 6493, with card data from the Interbank Card Center (BKM).
Providers appear only as register entries, with no ranking, fee table or recommendation, and this is not legal advice.
Turkey payment processor rules: who can collect card payments?
Only banks, e-money institutions, payment institutions and PTT may provide payment services in Turkey, and acting as one without a license is a crime.
Article 13 of Law No. 6493 names those four groups and bars everyone else except TCMB. Article 28 sets one to three years' imprisonment and a judicial fine of up to 5,000 days for people who act like a licensed institution without permission, or who imply it in a trade name or advertisement. TCMB's September 2022 business-models guide says a virtual POS (sanal POS) service needs Article 12(1) letters (a) and (b) plus the acceptance part of letter (c).
| Provider type | Basis | Listed | Rows ticked for a, b and c |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank | Banking Law No. 5411; Law 6493 Art. 13 | BDDK list, not counted here | Not on these lists |
| E-money institution | TCMB license, Law 6493 Art. 18 | 55 | 50 |
| Payment institution | TCMB license, Law 6493 Art. 14 | 20 | 14 |
| PTT | Named in Law 6493 Art. 13(1)(ç) | 1 | Not on these lists |
A tick shows what a firm may do, not that it sells a gateway to your type of business.
Payment gateway Turkey options: bank POS or payment institution?
Both are lawful routes, and they differ mainly in how many bank connections sit behind one contract and where unpaid funds wait.
| Point | Bank | Payment or e-money institution |
|---|---|---|
| Usual setup | The bank's own POS product | Agreements with several banks, connected by API and sold under one software |
| Funds before payout | Banking rules | Tracked apart from the firm's money; anything still unpaid at 16:30 on the next business day, 12:00 on half days, goes to a protection account at a bank (Art. 34) |
| Merchant code | One code per merchant, issued by BKM (Art. 9) | The same |
| Merchant check | Registry check before service and at least yearly (Art. 10) | The same |
Settlement timing, blocked funds, reserves and rates are contract terms. Card rules also sit under Law No. 5464 and BDDK, as TCMB's guide notes.
How to read the TCMB register row by row
Search for the legal company name rather than the brand, then read the letters in that row.
| Letter | Service | Payment institutions | E-money institutions |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | Operating a payment account | 15 | 53 |
| b | Money transfer from an account | 15 | 50 |
| c | Issuing or accepting a payment instrument (acceptance only for payment institutions, per TCMB's note) | 14 | 50 |
| ç | Money remittance | 10 | 39 |
| d | Payment through a telecom or IT operator | 0 | 3 |
| e | Bill payment intermediation | 6 | 44 |
| f | Payment initiation | 7 | 19 |
| g | Account information | 7 | 19 |
Two rows, as register data only. Paytr Ödeme ve Elektronik Para Kuruluşu A.Ş. is e-money code 863, ticked for a, b, c, e and e-money issuance. İyzi Ödeme ve Elektronik Para Hizmetleri A.Ş. is code 864, ticked for a, b, c, f, g and e-money issuance. The brand names PayTR and iyzico are not printed there. The ended-license list shows PayU Ödeme Kuruluşu A.Ş. and Paynet Ödeme Hizmetleri A.Ş. merged into İyzi; check the entity behind any brand a vendor list shows. Their APIs are covered in the PayTR and iyzico guides.
Six rows (five e-money, one payment institution) carry a red cross mark in some columns with no legend; do not read it as a permission, and ask TCMB. TCMB's 2025 Annual Report records 14 license suspensions and seven revocations that year, without linking them to these marks. Revoked and ended licenses sit in separate lists on the same pages: 10 and 2 for payment institutions, 15 and 1 for e-money. The pages carry no as-of date, so recheck on the day you sign.
Can a foreign company sell in Turkey without a Turkish entity?
The rule texts read here do not say a merchant must be a Turkish company, but nothing obliges a provider to accept you, so the working answer comes in writing from a licensed provider.
| Question | Text | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Can a merchant abroad get a merchant code? | Regulation Art. 9(3): built from address and ID or tax number, and for merchants resident abroad from the equivalents in that country | The rule anticipates foreign merchants; each provider still decides |
| Can a foreign payment firm serve Turkish buyers alone? | Art. 19: only jointly with a licensed provider in Turkey, with TCMB permission, and only where sender or recipient is abroad | It cannot be the sole visible face of the service or run a site aimed at residents |
| Which currency? | Art. 66(1) and (3) | For payment and e-money institutions, lira only when both parties are resident and use providers in Turkey; with one party abroad, the agreed currency within Decree No. 32 |
| Where do systems sit? | Communiqué Art. 21; Regulation Art. 19(13) | Institutions keep primary and secondary systems and backups in Turkey; a foreign partner's may stay abroad only if every transaction passes through the institution's systems, which keep the audit trail |
TCMB's Article 19(7) list shows four permitted pairings: Lidio with Global Collect Services B.V. and with Dlocal Limited, and Moka United with TransferGo Lithuania UAB and with Wise Payments Ltd. The list records a permission, not which merchants are served.
Two shortcuts carry real risk. Using another merchant's account runs against the rule that each merchant gets its own code (Regulation Art. 9) and can raise Article 13(2) questions for both of you. Collecting from buyers for your own sellers is also a different activity from selling your own product: the commercial-agent exclusion in Article 12(2)(b) exists, but Regulation Art. 82 requires a report to TCMB each January once such amounts pass TRY 50 million in 12 months, TCMB's January 2023 guide (opens in a new tab) counts a marketplace's full sale price including commission, and TCMB may then treat the activity as a payment service (Law Art. 12(5)). Routing Turkish sales through an acquirer abroad to avoid these rules is not a route either. Take Turkish legal advice first, and ask a tax adviser about VAT and your home-country treatment.
A license of your own is the other route, and the bar is high: a Turkish joint-stock company (Law 6493 Art. 14 and 18) with minimum own funds of TRY 105 million for an e-money institution, TRY 40 million for most payment institutions and TRY 20 million for those offering only bill payments, in force from 30 June 2026 under the communiqué of 31 January 2026 (opens in a new tab) (Resmî Gazete no. 33154). TCMB re-evaluates these floors every January (Regulation Art. 33).
Hypothetical decision path. A SaaS company in Germany wants a lira checkout for Turkish customers. It asks two TCMB-listed providers in writing whether they contract with a merchant with no Turkish tax number, which documents apply, and where and in which currency they settle. If both say no, the decision becomes whether to form a Turkish company. Account questions are in bank account in Turkey for foreigners.
Is PayPal available in Turkey? PayPal, Stripe and Shopify checked
No for PayPal, and neither Stripe's country list nor Shopify Payments' list includes Turkey, as read on 6 November 2026.
| Service | Page | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| PayPal | Turkish home page (opens in a new tab) | Operations stopped from June 2016; customers in Turkey cannot send or receive money or reach their accounts; accounts must be opened in the country of residence; PayPal says it is not permitted to provide the service |
| Stripe | Global availability (opens in a new tab) | 51 countries and regions, some labeled preview or extended network; Turkey absent |
| Shopify Payments | Help Center list (opens in a new tab) | 41 countries and regions; Turkey absent; businesses elsewhere need a third-party provider |
| Shopify gateways | Gateways page (opens in a new tab) | The old Turkey address redirects here; the page text names only Shopify Payments |
No TCMB or BDDK text on PayPal's exit was checked, so 2016 press accounts are not repeated. Stripe's list shows where a business can be based, so it settles the question for a Turkish company, not for a foreign seller with Turkish buyers. Turkish cards do pay merchants abroad, as BKM's table below shows, but that figure says nothing about your legal position. The iyzico (opens in a new tab) and PayTR (opens in a new tab) docs each have a Shopify page, which shows only that an integration is documented. Confirm in your Shopify admin and with the provider.
Turkey online payment methods: cards, installments, Troy, wallets
Official data covers cards, and installments carry about 19% of credit card purchase value; no official share across all online methods was found.
| Measure | Number | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Internet card payments | 2,548,847,032 | TRY 7,472.76 billion |
| At merchants abroad | 299,249,979 (11.7%) | TRY 374.71 billion (5.0%) |
| Credit card purchases, all channels | 9,742,326,439 | TRY 20,589.73 billion |
| Of which in installments | 286,594,454 (2.9%) | TRY 3,898.97 billion (18.9%) |
| Cards at end of September 2026 | 155.0 million credit, 225.2 million debit, 98.7 million prepaid | |
| Spending | Maximum |
|---|---|
| General limit, purchases and cash advances | 12 months |
| Domestic airlines, travel agencies and lodging; corporate cards generally | 18 months |
| Furniture, health products, electrical goods; televisions up to TRY 5,000 | 9 months |
| Tablets; clubs and associations | 6 months |
| Electronics, apart from televisions up to TRY 5,000 | 4 months |
| Jewelry other than coins and bullion | 3 months |
| Food, fuel, telecom, cosmetics, office supplies, gift cards, coins and bullion, spending abroad | No installments |
- Troy is BKM's domestic card scheme, set up in 2016; BKM says (opens in a new tab) its cards work abroad only if they also carry an international logo.
- Transfers run on FAST and other lira rails; see the FAST and TR Karekod guide.
- Wallets need letter (c), and e-money authority where the wallet pays merchants through the provider, per TCMB's guide.
- Crypto is not a payment method in Turkey: TCMB's regulation bars it, as crypto payment API integration explains.
What a Turkish checkout integration involves
The API call is the small part; most work goes to installment rules, asynchronous results, refunds and lira reconciliation.
- Hosted page or your own card form. A hosted page keeps card numbers off your servers; your own form brings PCI DSS (opens in a new tab) scope to discuss with your provider.
- Installments by category. Offer only installment counts within the BDDK cap for each product category, and keep the caps in configuration: the document's notes record 12 BDDK decisions that changed them.
- Server-side results. Treat the customer's redirect as display only. Verify the signed notification, process it once, then reconcile against the provider's report in lira minor units.
- Refunds and disputes. Plan who issues refunds and what evidence you keep, and ask counsel which Turkish consumer rules on distance sales apply to you.
Effort drivers are in fintech app development cost, and project and product analysis or white-label development describe how Fincode works in general terms. Fincode builds software and never holds funds. The technical-service exclusion in Law 6493 Art. 12(2)(ğ) covers only those who at no point own the funds being transferred, so whether your own model fits it is a question for Turkish counsel.
Frequently asked questions
Is PayPal available in Turkey?
No. PayPal's Turkish page, read on 6 November 2026, says it stopped operations from June 2016 and that customers in Turkey cannot send or receive money.
Does Stripe work in Turkey?
Turkey is not on Stripe's global availability list read on 6 November 2026, so Stripe does not support a business based in Turkey.
Which Shopify payment gateways work in Turkey?
Shopify Payments is not on its supported-country list read on 6 November 2026, so a store based in Turkey needs a third-party provider. The iyzico and PayTR developer docs each have a Shopify page, which shows only that an integration is documented, so confirm in your admin and with the provider.
Can a merchant accept crypto from customers in Turkey?
No. TCMB's regulation in force since 30 April 2021 bars crypto assets from payments, directly or indirectly.
Sources
- Mevzuat: Law No. 6493, consolidated text, Articles 12, 13, 14, 14/A, 18 and 28 (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- TCMB: Regulation on Payment Services and Electronic Money, Resmî Gazete 1 December 2021 no. 31676, consolidated to 4 September 2026 (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- TCMB: Communiqué on Information Systems of Payment and E-Money Institutions, same date, Article 21 (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- TCMB: Guide relating business models to payment service types, September 2022 (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- TCMB: Payment institutions register (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- TCMB: E-money institutions register (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- TCMB: Companies permitted under Article 19(7) of the Regulation (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- BDDK: Credit card installment limits and bans (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- Resmî Gazete: TCMB Regulation on the Disuse of Crypto Assets in Payments, 16 April 2021, no. 31456 (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- BKM: Internet card payment statistics (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- BKM: Card counts (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- BKM: Domestic credit card use, domestic and abroad (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- BKM: Installment use of domestic credit cards (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- TCMB: Communiqué on minimum own funds, Resmî Gazete 31 January 2026 no. 33154, in force 30 June 2026 (Turkish) (opens in a new tab)
- TCMB: Annual Report 2025, section 2.5.5, licenses suspended and revoked (opens in a new tab)
This guide is general information about software and markets, not investment, legal or tax advice. Automated trading can lose money, past or backtested performance does not guarantee future results, and the rules that apply depend on your jurisdiction and your exchange's terms. Sources, checks and corrections: see the editorial policy.