According to data from the Revenues Administration (GİB), Turkey’s largest cities -- İstanbul, Ankara and İzmir -- accounted for 60.69 percent of the total amount of TL 47.3 billion. İstanbul, top on the list, brought in a total of TL 19.59 billion, of which TL 7.99 billion came from abroad. The Finance Ministry earned TL 740.03 million in tax revenue on the funds.
Ankara, the city that attracted the second-highest amount, brought TL 7.77 billion back to the economy, representing 16.4 percent of the total. Of this amount, TL 5.95 billion came from outside the country and the remaining from inside. The tax revenue incurred from this repatriated money from Ankara was TL 209 million.
By attracting TL 1.35 billion in savings, İzmir became third on the list, of which TL 833.6 million came from abroad. Tax revenue earned by the state with this money amounted to TL 209 million.
Other cities that attracted large amounts of money under the “wealth amnesty” program were Antalya, Bursa, Yalova, Denizli, Kocaeli, Kayseri and Mersin. The lowest amounts of money, on the other hand, were repatriated in Sinop, Karaman, Artvin, Bayburt, Kilis and Hakkari.
The program, which started in November 2008 and expired in March 2009, but was extended for another term starting from June to the end of 2009, allowed Turkish citizens to bring their money held in Turkey but outside the banking system or in foreign banks back to Turkish banks without penalties.
