Turkey recorded 93,095 small business closures during the first nine months of 2026, according to figures attributed to the Confederation of Turkish Tradesmen and Craftsmen (TESK). The number covers January through September and has renewed attention on the pressures facing the country’s independent shopkeepers.
Which provinces recorded the most closures?
Istanbul had the highest reported total, with 10,956 closures. It was followed by Izmir with 6,421, Antalya with 5,009, Ankara with 4,862 and Bursa with 4,246. These are reported provincial totals; they do not by themselves explain why each business shut or how many new businesses opened during the same period.
What does “closure” mean in the figures?
The figures are based on TESK registration data and refer to businesses leaving the relevant tradespeople and crafts registry. They should not automatically be described as 93,095 bankruptcies. A registry exit can reflect different circumstances, and the reported number alone does not identify the cause of each closure.
Separate breakdowns cited by Turkish outlets classify 73,121 exits as trades registry cancellations and 19,974 as exits from a profession. That distinction matters: the data count recorded exits, not a direct measure of the amount of debt, lost jobs or total economic damage.
Why the number is drawing attention
Small shops are a visible part of Turkey’s local economies, from neighborhood food stores and services to market stalls. A high closure count can prompt questions about operating costs, rents, financing and consumer spending. However, the figures alone do not establish which factor was decisive, and a full picture would also require data on openings, employment and sector-by-sector changes.
For now, the nine-month total is a signal to watch rather than a complete diagnosis of the economy. The next useful comparison will be whether new TESK data show closures accelerating or easing, and how the figures compare with new registrations.
Photo note
The image is an illustrative photograph of a shop in Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar, taken in 2014; it is not a photograph of a business that closed in 2026. Photo: Esin Üstün, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Sources: TESK figures reported by Turkish Minute and T24. Updated October 19, 2026.
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