Selcuk Bayraktar, a son-in-law of Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, remained the country’s top taxpayer in 2023, according to Gelir Idaresi Baskanligi (GIB/Turkish Revenue Administration).

Bayraktar paid Turkish lira (TRY) 2bn ($57mn) in taxes.

Haluk Bayraktar, a brother of Selcuk Bayraktar, ranked second for tax payments, paying TRY 1.7bn.

Selcuk holds a 52.5% stake in Baykar, launched in 1984 to produce auto parts but nowadays known for its combat drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) such as the Bayraktar TB2, while Haluk owns the remaining 47.5%.

Rahmi Koc, a member of the Koc family that owns largest Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding (KCHOL), was in third place for tax payments with TRY 480mn.

The top three individuals in the ranking did not change in comparison to 2022.

Only 27 of the top 100 taxpayers allowed the release of their names.

Ipek Kirac (5th place with TRY 323mn) and Omer Koc (current CEO of the holding, 7th with TRY 262mn) are the other members of the Koc family who feature in the top 100.

See full list here.

Banks dominate

Banks again dominated the top 100 for corporates. Government-run Ziraat Bank ranked first with TRY 23bn, followed by Garanti BBVA (GARAN), a unit of BBVA (Madrid/BBVA), with TRY 22bn, and Akbank (AKBNK), a unit of Turkish conglomerate Sabanci Holding (SAHOL), with TRY 13bn.

Mercedes-Benz Turk (9th place with TRY 6.3bn), the local unit of Germany-based Mercedes-Benz (Frankfurt/DAI), and state-monopoly Turkish Electricity Transmission Company (TEIAS, 10th, TRY 5.8bn) were the only two non-bank companies in the top 10.

See full list here.