When does a .tr domain expire and drop?
An expired .tr is released about 90 days later. Here is that timeline in full, plus who runs .tr, the move to TRABIS, and how direct registration works.
An expired .tr is released about 90 days after expiry: about 60 days of renewal grace during which the holder can still renew, then a pending-delete window of about 30 days, then release. .tr is the country code of Turkey, run by BTK through the TRABIS system, and direct second-level names are now registrable without documents.
- Registry
- BTK
- Backend
- TRABIS
- Type
- ccTLD
- Country
- Turkey
- Delegated
- 1990-09-17
- DNSSEC
- Yes
- IDN
- Yes
- Restrictions
- Open
- Label length
- 1–63 chars
- Grace
- 60 days
- Pending delete
- 30 days
- Expiry to drop
- 90 days
A long grace, then pending delete
.tr is run by BTK through the TRABIS registry system, on a lifecycle of about 60 days of renewal grace, during which the holder can renew at the ordinary price, then a pending-delete window of about 30 days, then release. There is no separate redemption stage.
The long grace makes an expired .tr recoverable by its owner for a good while, so many lapse and return without ever reaching the drop. When one does clear the whole window it is released to open registration, and a watched name shows each transition on the way.
Who runs .tr, and since when
.tr is the country code of Turkey, delegated in 1990 and administered for decades by a university department under the old nic.tr system, with tight documentation rules and no direct second-level registration.
In September 2022 responsibility passed to BTK through TRABIS, the national registry system, which opened a registrar market and, for most namespaces, dropped the documentation requirement. The deletion stages documented here are the current TRABIS lifecycle, which our engine re-verifies against the live record.
How to register a .tr domain
Direct second-level .tr names, and the common third levels like com.tr, are now allocated first come, first served with no documents required, so a .tr is far easier to obtain than under the old system.
A handful of restricted namespaces such as edu.tr and gov.tr still require supporting documents, but the general .tr space does not. An expiring .tr follows a long grace and a pending-delete window; watch it and act before release, as there is no redemption stage afterwards.
- Open registration: anyone worldwide can hold a .tr domain, with no local-presence requirement.
- Register through any accredited registrar; the registry sells wholesale, not direct to the public.
- Labels run up to 63 characters using letters, digits and hyphens, never starting or ending with a hyphen.
- Registration is annual and renewable; an unrenewed name enters the deletion timeline below.
The .tr timeline, stage by stage
The stages an unrenewed .tr passes through. Note there is no redemption stage.
| Stage | Window | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Renewal grace: about 60 days | Day 0 to 60 after expiry | The registration has expired but the current owner can still renew at the normal price, usually through their registrar. The name often stops resolving during this window, and nobody else can register it. Registrars frequently delete earlier than the final day, which starts the rest of the timeline early. |
| Pending delete: 30 days | Day 60 to 90 after expiry | The point of no return. Recovery is no longer possible for anyone, including the original owner, and the registry releases the name at the end of this fixed window. This is the stage worth acting on if you want the name. |
| Released: registrable by anyone | From about day 90 | The name leaves the registry's deletion pipeline and returns to the public pool, registrable at the standard price on a first-come basis through any registrar. Availability monitoring exists to catch this moment. |
.tr technical profile
How .tr publishes registration data, secures its zone, and handles internationalized names.
WHOIS lookups
Registration data for a .tr domain is queryable over legacy WHOIS at whois.trabis.gov.tr. TRABIS does not run a public RDAP service, so status, dates and record changes are read from WHOIS, which is what our monitoring reads.
DNSSEC
The .tr registry supports DNSSEC, so a domain can publish DS records and let resolvers cryptographically validate its DNS answers against tampering.
Internationalized names
The .tr registry supports internationalized domain names, so labels in non-Latin scripts register as punycode alongside ordinary ASCII names.
whois.trabis.gov.tr
TRABIS publishes .tr registration status over WHOIS rather than RDAP, and the zone is DNSSEC-signed. The stage a name is in is observable on the WHOIS record, even though the lifecycle omits a redemption stage.
Is .tr a good domain?
Where .tr fits, and its trade-off.
A Turkish address
For a business serving Turkey, .tr signals national identity and local trust, and it is the extension Turkish customers expect and search for.
Newly accessible
The TRABIS transition opened direct .tr registration and removed the paperwork that long deterred registrants, so short and brand names became obtainable for the first time.
A forgiving grace, no redemption
The long renewal grace makes an owner unlikely to lose a name by accident, but once past it there is no redemption safety net, so the pending-delete window is the real deadline.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about .tr domains.
What is .tr, and who runs it?
.tr is the country code of Turkey, delegated in 1990 and run since September 2022 by BTK through TRABIS, the national registry system that replaced the old university-managed nic.tr.
How long does it take for an expired .tr to drop?
About 90 days: roughly 60 days of renewal grace in which the holder can still renew, then a pending-delete window of about 30 days, then release. There is no redemption stage in between.
Do I need documents to register a .tr domain?
For most namespaces, no. Since the TRABIS transition, direct .tr and common third levels like com.tr are allocated first come, first served without documents. Restricted spaces such as edu.tr and gov.tr still require supporting paperwork.
Does .tr have a redemption period or RDAP?
Neither. The lifecycle runs grace then pending delete with no redemption stage, and TRABIS publishes registration data over WHOIS rather than RDAP. Our monitoring reads the WHOIS record to track a name's stage.
What is the best way to get a .tr that is expiring?
Watch it and target the pending-delete window, since there is no redemption stage after it and release follows directly. Most lapsed .tr names clear uncontested, so an alert at that stage is usually early enough.
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