According to market data from the Information Technology and Communications Authority (BTK) of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, the management of “.tr” domain names has been carried out by the Middle East Technical University (METU) since 1991. Electronic Communications Law No. 5809, enacted in 2008, decided to designate the institution or organization that will allocate Internet domain names and to establish the procedures and principles for the management of domain names by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure.
The “Regulation on Internet Domain Names” prepared by the ministry came into force after its publication in the Official Gazette on November 7, 2010. The regulation gave BTK the authority and obligation to carry out the work and transactions related to the allocation of domain names with the “.tr” extension.
A new era has begun with TRABİS
As part of this task, TRABİS was put into operation within BTK on September 14, 2022. As part of the development of TRABİS, some necessary updates regarding the management of domain names of BTK were made with the Communiqué on Changes to the Communiqué on Internet Domain Names published in the Official Gazette on June 10, 2023. The procedures and principles for the initial allocation of domain names in the “.a.tr” structure regulated by the resolution of the Board of Directors and the points to be applied in this process have come into force.
Accordingly, priority will be given in the allocation to those domain names that were allocated to public institutions and organizations at the time of entry into force and have more than half of their capital.
“First come, first served” rule
The fees for transactions relating to domain names with the structure “a.tr” are regulated by the Board. Accordingly, domain names for “gov.tr, edu.tr, tsk.tr, bel.tr and k12.tr” are allocated free of charge.
Before TRABİS, there were about 460,000 active areas in Türkiye. With the allocations since TRABİS came into force in 2022, the total number of active domain names reached 1.3 million.
The largest share of TRABİS records, 988,000,743, is on websites ending in “com.tr”. This is followed by websites ending in “.tr” with 180,000 62, “org.tr” with 29,000 974 and “net.tr” with 27,000 386. There are also domain names for various professions such as “.web”, “.av”, “.bel”, “.edu”.
81.2 percent of websites using the domain names in question are hosted in Turkey, 6 percent in Germany, 5.3 percent in the United States, 2.1 percent in France, 1.6 percent in the Netherlands, 0.9 percent in Canada, 0.7 percent in the United Kingdom and 2.2 percent in other countries.
Disputes over domain names are resolved in the arbitration center
The procedures and principles for the functioning of the “Dispute Resolution Mechanism” (ICC) within the framework of the Internet Domain Name Regulation were also regulated by the BTK.
The TR Domain Names Dispute Resolution Center, established to quickly, effectively and fairly resolve disputes over domain names ending in “.tr”, provides alternative solutions to disputes arising from the allocation, use or infringement of domain names.
Information Technologies and Internet Security Association (BTİDER), Istanbul Arbitration Center (ISTAC) and TOBBUYUM Mediation and Dispute Resolution Center provide services in this context and aim to resolve disputes without going to court.
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