‘.tr’ URL market surpasses TL 8.5 million

The market for the .tr URL has now reached a value of over 8.5 million Turkish liras ($2.35 million) in Turkey, with 382,257 websites using this URL in the country.

According to reports prepared by the Middle East Technical University (METU) and the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK), the total income from these sites has reached an annual value of TL 8,510,255 ($2,349,632).

A body linked to Turkey's METU controls the .tr URL, allowing websites to purchase a .tr website for a yearly fee. The 382,257 websites currently using the URL in Turkey pay a fee of between TL 5 ($1.37) and 25 ($6.89) per year.

The most common form of the .tr URL is .com.tr, making up 79.4 percent of the total number of .tr websites. Following .com.tr are .gen.tr with 5.5 percent, .gov.tr with 3.5 percent, and .org.tr with 2.7 percent of the total. The 303,669 .com.tr websites pay a fee of 25 lira per year, forming the bulk of the income from .tr URL websites.

BTK President Ömer Fatih Sayan announced a loosening of the regulations around .tr websites in February, saying that no documents would be required to acquire a .tr address. Taking a "first come, first served" approach to those wanting the URL, Sayan's words were seen as an encouragement for local business to register as .tr.

With the rapid rise in internet use in Turkey, online shopping has also emerged as a growth market in the Turkish economy. The .tr URL has been welcomed as an important incentive to electronic commerce for Turkish businesses.