Firearms, converted blank guns and knives, and which article the file lands in.

Law no. 6136 — the Law on Firearms and Knives and Other Instruments — is a single statute containing several offences with very different consequences. Where a file lands decides the court, the sentence range, and whether remand is even legally available.

Which court, and whether remand is possible

Under art. 12 of Law no. 5235, the ağır ceza mahkemesi hears offences requiring more than ten years' imprisonment, and art. 14 of the same Law fixes jurisdiction on the upper limit written in the article, with aggravating and mitigating causes left out of account. Art. 12 of Law 6136, at an upper limit of twelve years, is therefore an ağır ceza case. Arts. 13, 14 and 15 are heard by the asliye ceza mahkemesi.

Two procedural consequences follow directly from the ranges. Art. 12 of Law 6136 is named in CMK 100/3 as a catalogue offence: where there are strong grounds for suspicion resting on concrete evidence, a ground for remand may be presumed, without the prosecutor separately establishing flight risk or interference with evidence. At the other end, CMK 100/4 prohibits remand where the offence carries only a judicial fine, or — offences committed intentionally against bodily integrity excepted — where the upper limit of imprisonment is not more than two years. Art. 15/1, at a maximum of one year and not an offence against bodily integrity, sits inside that prohibition.

A kurusıkı — a gun that fires blank or gas cartridges — is not a firearm under Law 6136 while it remains what it was built to be. It has its own statute: Law no. 5729, which defines these weapons and regulates their manufacture, import, sale, possession and carriage.

Art. 2/2 of that Law requires them to be produced so that they cannot be converted into a weapon subject to Law 6136, and to carry a marking, specified by colour and shape, that clearly distinguishes them from real firearms. The same requirements apply to imported guns. That is the manufacturer's duty, and a breach of it does not protect the person holding the weapon later.

Carrying one is already prohibited

Art. 3/1(a) of Law 5729 prohibits carrying these weapons outright. Art. 3/3 permits them to be moved only unloaded, in a box, in a state that is not ready for use and not easily reached; moving one in any other way is treated as carrying. Breach is an administrative fine, and the authority also orders the transfer of ownership of the weapon to the state (art. 4/2). The lira figures printed in the 2008 text are increased at the start of every calendar year at the official revaluation rate under art. 17/7 of Law no. 5326, so the number in the statute is not the number that will be assessed. The decision is taken by the local civil administrative authority, not by a court (art. 4/4).

The paragraph added on 21 November 2024

Law no. 7533 added a paragraph to art. 12 of Law 6136. Altering the technical characteristics of a gun that fires blank or gas cartridges so as to turn it into a weapon subject to Law 6136 is now deemed manufacture outside Law no. 5201, and is punished under art. 12 — the five-to-twelve-year article. The same paragraph provides that where the converted weapon is not grave in number and nature, the penalty is reduced by one third to one half.

Art. 13/1 was drafted in the same direction. It names weapons converted from blank-firing guns alongside real firearms. Buying, carrying or possessing a converted blank gun is therefore two to four years' imprisonment and a fine of one hundred to five hundred days — not an administrative penalty.

Art. 4 of Law 6136 does not ban knives. It bans the manufacture, within the country, of a specific list: kama and hançer (daggers), saldırma, şişli baston (swordstick), sustalı çakı (flick knife), pala, kılıç (sword), kasatura, süngü (bayonet), pointed and grooved blades, topuz (mace), topuzlu kamçı, boğma teli veya zinciri (garrotte wire or chain), muşta (knuckleduster), and similar implements of a special character intended purely for attack and defence.

The same article then takes a great deal back out. Household implements, and those used in medicine, industry, agriculture and sport, together with the knives, skewers, rasps and similar tools necessary to practise a trade or craft, are not subject to this Law at all. Smoothbore shotguns and their ammunition, and rifled non-firearm sporting weapons, are likewise outside it.

Where these files usually come from

Two categories account for most of the knife cases involving visitors. The first is the switchblade: sustalı çakı is on the art. 4 list by name, and a knife that opens on a spring is not saved by being small or by being sold openly. The second is the souvenir: a decorative dagger from a bazaar is, as an object, a kama or a hançer, and neither its price nor the reason it was bought changes what it is.

Carrying is one article; moving it is another

Carrying or possessing an art. 4 knife falls under art. 15/1: six months to one year, plus a judicial fine of not less than twenty-five days. Where the items are grave in number or nature, art. 15/2 increases that by between one half and one times.

Bringing such an item into the country, manufacturing it here, or transporting or sending it from one place to another falls under art. 14/1: two to five years, plus a fine of not less than two hundred days — though the same paragraph reduces the penalty by up to half where the items are few in number or of a lesser nature. Which of the two articles a set of facts belongs to is a genuine question, and it is the difference between a case in which remand is legally unavailable and one in which it is not.

One provision points the other way. Art. 15/4 reaches the items art. 4 otherwise leaves outside this Law — sporting weapons and ordinary trade or household knives — where the circumstances show they were carried purely to be used in an attack: up to three months' imprisonment, or a judicial fine.

Sentences in this area move in tiers rather than by degrees, and the tier is fixed by findings made before anyone argues about them.

The single weapon at home

Art. 13/3 sets a separate, lower range — one to three years — for one firearm that is not of the aggravated type, with a usual number of cartridges, kept at a home or workplace. Art. 13/4 goes lower still: where only very few cartridges or parts are possessed or carried and the court does not assess this as grave, the penalty is up to six months' imprisonment and a judicial fine of thirty to five hundred days.

Vahim — grave in number or nature

This word runs through the whole statute and is nowhere defined by a figure. Under art. 13/2, a weapon of the aggravated type, or items grave in number or nature, takes the range to five to eight years plus a fine of five hundred to five thousand days. Under art. 12/4, where the weapon is a rifle, or a fully automatic pistol able to fire many rounds quickly and effectively, or a pistol fitted with a scope, a silencer or a laser aiming device — or where the quantity of ordinary weapons, ammunition or main parts is grave — the penalties are increased by half. Art. 12/5 doubles them where weapons of that aggravated kind are grave in quantity. Nothing in the Law says where grave begins. It is argued, from the count, the report and the circumstances.

Two situations moved to administrative fines in 2024

Law no. 7533 rewrote the closing paragraphs of art. 13. Breaching the obligations this Law imposes during licensing or licence renewal following a death, a health condition, a conviction, a confiscation, a purchase or a transfer now carries an administrative fine of ten thousand to twenty-five thousand Turkish lira. So does moving a weapon held under a possession permit to a new residence or workplace without a transport permit — nakil izin belgesi. In both cases the fine is imposed by the civil administrative authority, not by a court (art. 13/5 to 13/7).

Storage and children

A provision added in August 2026 punishes storing a firearm in breach of the duty of care and attention, so that a child obtains it: one to three years' imprisonment, where the act does not constitute a more serious offence (art. 13/A).

Almost every firearms or knife file rests on a single seizure event and a single expert report. Both are documents, and both can be examined.

• The lawfulness of the search. Whether there was a decision or a written order where one was required, whether its scope was respected, and whether the record reflects what actually happened. This is dealt with in more detail on the search and seizure page.
• The expert report. Whether the weapon is functional and can discharge a live round; whether a blank-firing gun has in fact been altered, and how; whether a blade falls inside the art. 4 list or inside the art. 4 exemption. This is a technical document, and it is answered technically.
• Attribution. Whether the item was on the person, in a shared or hired vehicle, in a hotel room used by more than one person, or in luggage that passed through other hands.
• The article itself. Carrying (art. 15) or transporting (art. 14); possession (art. 13) or manufacture (art. 12); a single weapon at home (art. 13/3) or something the file describes as grave.
• Knowledge. Whether the person knew what the object was — which carries most weight where the weapon was in a vehicle or a bag belonging to someone else.
• The first statement. An account given without counsel and through an uncertain interpretation is where files most often acquire the sentence they end with.

What this page cannot tell you

It cannot tell you where grave begins in your file, whether the laboratory will describe your gun as converted, or how a court will treat facts it has not yet seen. Nobody can answer those from a description given over a telephone, and anyone who does is guessing. What can be established quickly is which article is written on the record, what the report says, and whether the seizure was lawful. Those three things decide most of what follows.

The interpreter

Under CMK 202, where a defendant or a victim does not know Turkish well enough to explain themselves, the essential points of the accusation and the defence are translated by an interpreter appointed by the court. The same rule applies at the investigation stage to suspects, victims and witnesses, where the interpreter is appointed by the judge or the prosecutor (CMK 202/3). After the indictment is read and after the prosecutor's closing opinion, a defendant may also give an oral defence in another language they state they can express themselves better in, using an interpreter they choose from the official list — but those costs are not met by the state (CMK 202/4). In a case that turns on the words used about a weapon in a car, interpretation quality is not a background detail. If a question is not understood, say so and have that recorded.

Your consulate

CMK 95/2 provides that where the person apprehended or held in custody is a foreign national, the position is notified to the consulate of their state unless they object in writing. A consulate does not defend you, does not appear in court and does not pay for counsel. What it can do is confirm to a family abroad that you are in the system and where.

The travel ban

Where the grounds for remand exist, a judge may order judicial control instead. The first obligation listed in CMK 109/3 is a prohibition on leaving the country. Another (CMK 109/3-g) prohibits possessing or carrying a weapon and requires any held weapons to be handed over against receipt. A travel ban can keep you in Türkiye for the length of a case that you might otherwise have followed through counsel. It is a decision, and it can be objected to — the period for doing so is short.

The weapon does not come back

Confiscation is separate from the sentence. TCK 54/4 requires confiscation of items whose production, possession, use, carrying, purchase or sale is itself an offence. And where a court defers announcement of a judgment, CMK 231/5 states expressly that the deferral leaves the confiscation provisions untouched. Whatever happens on the charge, plan on the object being gone.

Thresholds that decide whether you serve time

A sentence of two years or less may be suspended under TCK 51, provided the person has not previously been sentenced to more than three months' imprisonment for an intentional offence. Under CMK 231/5, where the sentence is two years or less or a judicial fine, the court may defer announcement of the judgment; the conditions include no prior conviction for an intentional offence and full compensation of the damage, and the supervision period is five years. These thresholds decide a great deal here. Art. 15/1 and art. 13/4 sit inside them. Art. 13/1 reaches them only if the sentence lands at its two-year minimum after any reduction the Code allows. Art. 12, at a five-year minimum, does not reach them at all.

Deportation is decided afterwards, and elsewhere

Under TCK 59, a foreign national sentenced to imprisonment is reported to the Ministry of the Interior for assessment in connection with deportation — once release under probation or conditional release is decided, and in any event once the sentence has been served. Art. 54/1(a) of Law no. 6458 makes those assessed under TCK 59 a category for which a deportation decision is taken; art. 54/1(d) covers those assessed as a threat to public order, public security or public health. That second limb does not depend on the length of the sentence, and it is a separate administrative process with its own remedies.