Jewellery shows gold on the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey, on Aug. 26, 2026.
Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek has mentioned that about $640 billion in gold and international foreign money is held exterior the monetary system. For a lot of Turkish savers, bodily gold continues to be a secure technique to shield their cash from inflation and financial uncertainty. This follow is called “yastık altı altın,” or “gold beneath the mattress,” referring to the custom of conserving wealth in bodily property reasonably than in banks.
Emre Çaylak for NPR
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ISTANBUL — In Turkey, gold is way over an ornamental accent. It’s gifted all through life’s main milestones and stashed safely at residence—a time-honored follow designed to guard financial savings towards frequent foreign money devaluations and a risky nationwide financial system.
Nonetheless, Turkish officers and economists warn that this tradition of gold hoarding is actively undermining the nation’s monetary future.
On the bustling Mahmutpaşa Yokuşu market within the coronary heart of Istanbul, retailer house owners name out their wares whereas consumers dart between stalls, snapping up all the pieces from kitchen devices and blankets to elaborate marriage ceremony attire.
Locals and guests store for conventional marriage ceremony objects on the historic Mahmutpaşa Bazaar, subsequent to the Grand Bazaar in Fatih, Istanbul, Turkey, on Aug. 26, 2026.
Mahmutpaşa is certainly one of Istanbul’s largest purchasing areas and is thought for its wide selection of marriage ceremony items, from bridal attire and tuxedos to rugs and home goods. Many individuals nonetheless come right here to organize for his or her weddings due to its reasonably priced costs and big range.
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Amongst them is Nefise Asker, a 23-year-old bride-to-be trying to find the right outfit for her upcoming marriage ceremony photoshoot—certainly one of six outfits she plans to put on over a multi-day celebration this September. Like many Turkish brides, Asker is keen to obtain the standard staple of Turkish marriage ceremony presents: gold.
“We’ll share the gold as a pair to help our new life collectively,” Asker says.
Traditionally, gifted gold used to function monetary insurance coverage for wives who didn’t work exterior the house.
“If all the pieces goes south, you continue to have your gold that’s gifted to you throughout your marriage ceremony, and that will probably be your lifetime financial savings,” explains Selva Demiralp, an economist at Istanbul’s Koç College and a former economist for the Turkish Federal Reserve.
That mindset extends far past newlyweds. In Turkey, the follow of holding wealth as bodily gold or international foreign money exterior the formal banking system—identified regionally as yastık altı, or “beneath the pillow”—is usually dismissed as an outdated behavior. Nonetheless, Demiralp emphasizes that this conduct is a logical protection towards persistent instability.
“When you take a look at why folks do that, it stops wanting irrational truly, and it is a very rational response to a protracted historical past of excessive and unpredictable inflation, just a few banking crises folks nonetheless keep in mind, and a basic sense that the lira simply does not maintain its worth the way in which gold does,” Demiralp explains.
The Beyazıt Gate of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey, on Aug. 26, 2026.
The Grand Bazaar is likely one of the world’s oldest coated markets. At this time, many Turkish folks favor it to banks for purchasing and promoting gold as a result of they’ll usually get higher alternate charges.
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In Istanbul’s historic Grand Bazaar, Mehmet Yıldırımtürk sits in his cramped, stuffy store counting gold cash on a glass countertop as a small fan circulates the nice and cozy air. Yıldırımtürk, who has labored as a foreign money exchanger and gold vendor for over 50 years, views gold as a vital line of protection.
“Gold is a crucial device for Turks,” Yıldırımtürk says. “It helps shield them, particularly from inflation.”
Gold professional and market analyst Mehmet Ali Yıldırımtürk holds a show tray of historic and trendy gold cash at his store contained in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey, on Aug. 26, 2026.
The gathering contains conventional Ottoman-era cash, equivalent to Reşat and Hamit gold within the center, alongside trendy Turkish Republic cash, together with Ata and ribboned Çeyrek gold on the left. On the correct is a 1-gram gold piece, which was launched to the market in 2016 as a extra reasonably priced means for folks to purchase gold.
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Inflation stays a persistent disaster in Turkey, hovering round 31% yearly—one of many highest charges on this planet. Because the Turkish lira continues to weaken, day by day dwelling prices have skyrocketed. Gold, in contrast, provides stability, with costs hovering close to all-time highs. Stashing bodily gold at residence supplies Turkish households with a dependable monetary cushion.
Based on the Turkish finance ministry, Turkish households at the moment retailer roughly 5,000 tons of gold. At present costs, that hidden wealth quantities to roughly $600 billion, in keeping with the pinnacle of the Turkish Central Financial institution.
Belief Hole
A person exchanges international foreign money at an alternate workplace within the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey, on Aug. 20, 2026. The Grand Bazaar is likely one of the world’s oldest coated markets. At this time, many Turks nonetheless favor it over banks when shopping for or promoting gold, the place they’ll usually discover higher alternate charges.
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Past hedging towards worth will increase, conserving financial savings hidden displays a systemic mistrust in official establishments. Demiralp’s analysis at Koç College highlights how extreme this disconnect has turn into.
“We requested folks immediately how a lot they belief the nation’s key financial establishments on a 0 to 10 scale, and practically 4 in 10 rated their belief in industrial banks near zero,” Demiralp notes.
Belief within the statistical company was even decrease, she mentioned. Over half the respondents in her survey put it in the identical near-zero vary. So when folks select gold over a lira account, they’re reacting to a broader credibility hole in establishments meant to handle and report on the financial system.
Ladies use their telephones to calculate alternate charges earlier than shopping for gold on the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey, on Aug. 20, 2026.
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Demiralp mentioned that public distrust of Turkish industrial banks is rooted in a mix of historic financial trauma, persistent inflation, and a broader credibility hole in establishments. Turkish households nonetheless carry recollections of previous banking crises, which creates a hesitation to depart their financial savings contained in the formal banking sector.
This, she mentioned, is additional fueled by the stark actuality of persistent inflation and unfavorable actual rates of interest. When households see costs on day by day items rising at the next fee than official inflation figures counsel, it erodes their religion within the authorities’s numbers. Subsequently, holding cash within the financial institution seems like an computerized lack of buying energy in comparison with bodily gold.
As Demiralp factors out, “In case you assume inflation goes to run practically 50% and the deposit fee you might be being supplied does not come near compensating for that, then gold appears like a safer guess in actual phrases. Once we ask folks immediately what they plan to do with their financial savings going ahead, gold is by a large margin the only hottest reply.”
Wider Economic system
A feminine jeweler takes gold bracelets from a show case on the Grand Bazaar to point out them to clients in Istanbul, Turkey, on Aug. 20, 2026.
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But economists warn that conserving such an enormous sum idle creates extreme headwinds for the broader financial system.
“It is not being lent out to companies,” Demiralp says. “And an excellent chunk of the gold must be imported yearly, which provides to the present account deficit. So it is capital that is parked reasonably than working.”
Jewellery shows gold on the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey, on Aug. 20, 2026.
Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek has mentioned that about $640 billion in gold and international foreign money is held exterior the monetary system. For a lot of Turkish savers, bodily gold continues to be a secure technique to shield their cash from inflation and financial uncertainty. This follow is called “yastık altı altın,” or “gold beneath the mattress,” referring to the custom of conserving wealth in bodily property reasonably than in banks.
Emre Çaylak for NPR
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Emre Çaylak for NPR
Demiralp notes that if hoarded gold had been deposited into the formal banking system it might enable financial authorities to maintain monitor of actual liquidity volumes, observe account behaviors, and design efficient, focused macroeconomic insurance policies primarily based on actual knowledge reasonably than tough estimates. It will restore the central financial institution’s skill to affect financial demand, making financial coverage instruments efficient once more—a mandatory step towards attaining worth stability, attracting international funding, and decreasing unemployment.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has repeatedly urged residents to carry their gold out from beneath their mattresses, launching numerous authorities incentives and banking applications aimed toward changing bodily gold into financial institution deposits.
A buyer pays with a considerable amount of Turkish lira on the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey, on Aug. 26, 2026.
Because the Turkish lira has misplaced worth, the biggest banknote stays 200 lira (about $4.15). Over the previous 5 years, the lira has misplaced about 83% of its worth towards the U.S. greenback. Consequently, folks want to hold extra cash to make on a regular basis funds.
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“This brings no profit to both my folks themselves or to my state,” Erdoğan declared in a 2023 Cupboard speech.
Regardless of these initiatives, the federal government’s efforts have largely failed. Critics level to Erdoğan’s unorthodox financial insurance policies and heavy-handed management over monetary establishments—together with firing six financial institution heads over seven years—as key components fueling public skepticism.
“The gold simply is not popping out from beneath their pillows,” Yıldırımtürk says. “The federal government simply hasn’t been capable of present that confidence but.”
A pair appears at gold jewellery contained in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey, on Aug. 26, 2026.
Turkish finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek has mentioned that about $640 billion in gold and international foreign money is held exterior the monetary system. For a lot of Turkish savers, bodily gold continues to be a secure technique to shield their cash from inflation and financial uncertainty. This follow is called “yastık altı altın,” or “gold beneath the mattress,” referring to the custom of conserving wealth in bodily property reasonably than in banks.
Emre Çaylak for NPR
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Emre Çaylak for NPR
And bride-to-be Nefise Asker agrees. She has no intention of depositing her marriage ceremony gold right into a checking account.
“I will in all probability not put it beneath my pillow like within the olden days,” Asker says with a smile. “However for positive, I will cover it in a field at residence.”
