“iPhone Tourism” is getting increase with Kurds

Iphon 14 Pro Max phone in Turkey is 28 thousand 567 lira without tax, but with the government tax on these phones, this price rises to 57 thousand 200 lira.

Because of the increase in the price of iPhone phones in Turkey, people have already turned to Batum in Georgia and Zaxo in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

People who don’t want to buy a phone at this price go outside of Turkey. Phones purchased from outside Turkey must be registered on passports so that the phone cannot be seized. The price of this registration is currently 2 thousand 775 lira, but after the beginning of the year, this price will be 6 thousand lira.

Botan Times talked to people who went to buy cheaper phones and a tour company about cheap iPhones.

“Last year we had no work for these months, but now…”

The owner of Mitra Turê Murat Gezer says that last year they did not work for these months, but this year the situation has changed.

Gezer says that because of the difference in phone prices, the number of people who want to join their tours in Batum has increased and he says that they have been sending 15 buses to Batum every week for two months.

The price of a daily tour from Amed to Batumi is 900 lire, and for those who want to stay overnight in that city, the price rises to 1300 lire.

“Thousands of people are going like me”

Mercan is one of those people who went to Batumi a few weeks ago to registration a phone. 

She states that because she doesn’t want to pay 6,000 lira for the phone registration after the beginning of the year, she went to Batum like many people. 

According to Mercan, every day, hundreds of people go to and from Batumi from Diyarbakır and other cities.

“Going Zaxo three times and coming back is cheaper than buying an iPhone in Turkey “

Mehmet went to Zaxo in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to register his passport.

“The price of my phone here is 57,000, but I bought it from outside Turkey for 27,000. My 3 friends and I went to Zaxo for a day and came back. Mehmet says that going and coming back to Zaxo cost a thousand lira, we go back and forth three more times, but it is still cheaper according to the price of Turkey.

Apple’s iPhone phones, according to the information from the Japanese research company Nukeni, are the most expensive phone in the world sold in Turkey.

Brazil has been in first place on the list of inflation for years, but Turkey has surpassed it this year.

This news was translated by Yonca Sarsılmaz.

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