Turkish households are estimated to hold billions of dollars' worth of gold outside the formal banking system, a long-standing cultural practice rooted in deep mistrust of financial institutions and used as a hedge against the country's recurring bouts of inflation. The Turkish government is now pushing citizens to deposit this privately held gold into banks, arguing that keeping it out of the financial system deprives the broader economy of a significant source of capital. Officials say bringing even a portion of these household reserves into the mainstream financial system could provide a meaningful boost to Turkey's economy.