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Turks keep $600 billion "under their pillow", the government asks citizens: Take the gold out of their homes

2026-09-22 19:15:45Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Turks keep $600 billion "under their pillow", the government asks
Turkish families hold around 5,000 tons of gold outside the banking system

The Turkish government is calling on citizens to give up the tradition of keeping gold at home, describing the habit as a major obstacle to the country's economy.

According to the Turkish Ministry of Finance, households in Turkey currently hold around 5,000 tons of gold outside the banking system, worth around $600 billion.

Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek has stated that the total value of gold and foreign currency held outside the financial system amounts to $640 billion, NPR reports.

In Turkey, gold is not just jewelry. It is given as a gift at important moments in life and carefully stored at home, as a hedge against the frequent devaluation of the local currency, the lira, and economic instability.

The custom is known locally as "yastik alti," meaning "under the pillow," and has historically also served as a form of financial security for housewives.

If something went wrong, the gold given at the wedding remained a safe savings for the future.

Economist Selva Demiralp, from Istanbul's Koç University and former economist at the Central Bank of Turkey, says this habit should not be seen as something outdated or irrational.

On the contrary, according to her, it is a logical response to a long history of high and unpredictable inflation, several banking crises, and a general feeling that the lira does not retain value in the same way as gold.

But this wealth kept outside the financial system, no matter how understandable the reason, has consequences for the economy as a whole.

When billions of dollars in gold are kept locked away at home, they do not circulate in the economy: they are not deposited in banks and are not used for investment or business expansion.

At the same time, authorities are finding it more difficult to design effective policies to control prices and create more favorable conditions for attracting foreign investment.

Capital simply remains "parked", without contributing to economic activity.

Turks keep $600 billion "under their pillow", the government asks

The reason why people continue to choose gold over banks, according to Demiralp, is directly related to a profound loss of trust.

In one of its surveys, four in ten respondents said their trust in commercial banks was close to zero, while trust in the official statistics agency was even lower.

According to her, this is related to past economic traumas, chronic inflation, and a broader lack of trust in institutions.

When the prices of everyday products rise faster than official figures indicate, people lose faith in government data. In these circumstances, keeping money in the bank can be perceived as a sure loss compared to holding physical gold.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been urging citizens to remove gold from their homes for years, undertaking various incentive programs and creating banking schemes to convert physical gold into deposits.

However, these efforts have had limited success.

Critics attribute this to Erdogan's economic policies and his strong control over financial institutions, including the dismissal of six Central Bank governors within seven years, which, they say, has further deepened public skepticism.

"The gold is still not coming out from under their pillows," says Mehmet Yildirimturk, who has worked as a foreign exchange agent and gold dealer in Istanbul's Grand Bazaar for more than 50 years.

According to him, the government has not yet managed to give citizens the necessary trust to take this step.


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