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Vehicle registration plates of Turkey

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Turkey
Turkish regular legal standard number plate
CountryTurkey
Country codeTR
Current series
Size520 mm × 110 mm
20.5 in × 4.3 in
Serial formatNot standard
Colour (front)Black on white
Colour (rear)Black on white
A contemporary Turkish number plate. 38 denotes Kayseri.

Turkish vehicle registration plates are number plates found on Turkish vehicles. The plates use an indirect numbering system associated with the geographical info. In Turkey, number plates are made by authorized private workshops.

Appearance

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Turkish number plate is rectangular in shape and made of aluminium. On the left, there is the country code "TR" in a 4×10 cm blue stripe like in EU countries (without the 12 golden stars). The text is in black characters on white background, and for official vehicles white on black. On all vehicles two plates have to be present, being one in front and the other in rear except motorcycles and tractors. The serial letters use the Turkish letters except Ç, Ş, İ, Ö, Ü and Ğ.

Turkish plates do not utilise a standard font. The font used varies.

Dimensions

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Number plate for motorcycles. 34 denotes Istanbul.
  • 150×240 mm in rear only for motorbikes, motorcycles and tractors with rubber wheels,
  • 110×520 mm in front and rear for cars, 210×320 mm rear available for off-road vehicles, vans, trucks and busses. The size is 150×300 mm for imported vehicles if the regular plate does not fit.

Blue stripe

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Euroband like blue stripe on the left hand side of the plates
A pre-1996 plate without the blue stripe

The blue stripe was introduced after the entry of Turkey to the European Customs Union in 1996,[1] in accordance to compliance to EU laws. Since then, the blue stripe area is often modified by car owners (even by some parliament members like Devlet Bahçeli[1]). The predominant modification of this sorts is to replace the blue color with red crescent and the star of the Turkish flag. This type of modification is in the grey area of the law, for it does not clearly specify which color is to be used in the stripe.[2]

Additionally, vehicle inspection stickers were often stuck on this area.

Numbering system

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The text format on the plates is one of the following:

  • "99 X 9999", "99 X 99999"
  • "99 XX 999", "99 XX 9999" or
  • "99 XXX 99", "99 XXX 999"

In some provinces, numbering is categorized in groups for tax collecting offices of different districts, for example dolmuş, a type of public transportation in Ankara have plates of the form "99 X 9999" and a vehicle from Polatlı, Ankara has plates of the form "99 XXX 99", "99 XX 9999" from Etimesgut district. On the other hand, a dolmuş in Eskişehir has a plate of the form "99 X 9999".

99 - two digits prefix denoting the location, shows the province code number of the main residence of car holder. There are 81 provinces as listed below:

X/XX/XXX – one, two or three letters.

9999/999/99 – four, three or two digits, depending on the number of letters before, not exceeding six letters and digits altogether.

Diplomatic and consular registration plates are issued with randomly generated numbers since 16 August 2004 for security concerns.[3]

Types

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Type (Used by) Appearance Format and Explanation
General issue

Private vehicles and commercial vehicles owned by private entities.
Provincial governments, university rectors

99 AA 999 (red characters on white background):
Police

99 A 99999, 99 AA 999 or 99 AAA 999 (white on blue)
Gendarmerie

99 JAA 999 (white on blue). Since 2018, replaced old military plates.
Coast Guard

99 SGH 999 (white on blue). Since 2018, replaced old military plates.
Members of international organizations

99 B 9999 (blue on white)
Diplomatic corps

Corps Diplomatique: 99 CD 999: (green on white)
Consulates

99 CC 9999: (white on green)[4]
Temporary


99 G 9999 for temporary transportation, 34 T 99999 for testing (black on yellow). Valid duration for max. 1 month.
Temporary customs

99 GMR 999 (red on green)
Foreigners with temporary residence permit

99 MA 999 to 99 MZ 999: (Black on white)
Syrians with temporary residence permit

99 SAA 999 to 99 SZZ 999: (Black on white)
Taxis (Istanbul province only)

34 TAA 99 to 34 TKZ 99
Taxis (except Istanbul province)

99 T 9999
Vanity plates Turkey allows vanity plates to be issued. A desired text can be written instead of the serial letter place.
99 [TEXT] 999
Presidential cars The number plate of the president has no numbers, instead it uses the Presidential Seal of Turkey. Other convoy cars use the format CB 00X ("CB" for Cumhurbaşkanı (English: President)), with golden text on a red background.[citation needed]
Deputy Speaker and chairpeople of the parliamentary commissions

TBMM stands for Grand National Assembly of Turkey
Speaker, Vice President, Members of the Cabinet, Chief of the General Staff, the highest ranking commanders of armies, some undersecretaries

Gold on red (9999)
Province governors

99 9999 (golden on red), with first two-digits as province code number prefix
Official vehicles belonging to the government and public administrations

99 AA 999: (white on black), with first two-digits as province code number prefix
Military

999999 (black on a white rectangle of 7×20 cm on the bumper of the vehicle, painted by a stencil). 000999 General Staff of the Republic of Turkey, 100999 First Army, 200999 Second Army, 300999 Third Army, 400999 Aegean Army, 500999 Navy, 600999 Air Force. Prior to 2018, Gendarmerie used to use 700999 series.
Pre-1996 format (private vehicles)

These plates lacked the blue stripe (euroband) on the left hand side.
Pre-1962 format (private vehicles) These old plates had the name of the province written in full, black background with white letters and usage of dashes.
Pre-1996 format (police)

white on green

Location codes

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Location codes by map

First two digits indicating the province code:

Code Province Code Province Code Province
01 Adana 28 Giresun 55 Samsun
02 Adıyaman 29 Gümüşhane 56 Siirt
03 Afyonkarahisar 30 Hakkari 57 Sinop
04 Ağrı 31 Hatay 58 Sivas
05 Amasya 32 Isparta 59 Tekirdağ
06 Ankara 33 Mersin 60 Tokat
07 Antalya 34 İstanbul 61 Trabzon
08 Artvin 35 İzmir 62 Tunceli
09 Aydın 36 Kars 63 Şanlıurfa
10 Balıkesir 37 Kastamonu 64 Uşak
11 Bilecik 38 Kayseri 65 Van
12 Bingöl 39 Kırklareli 66 Yozgat
13 Bitlis 40 Kırşehir 67 Zonguldak
14 Bolu 41 Kocaeli 68 Aksaray
15 Burdur 42 Konya 69 Bayburt
16 Bursa 43 Kütahya 70 Karaman
17 Çanakkale 44 Malatya 71 Kırıkkale
18 Çankırı 45 Manisa 72 Batman
19 Çorum 46 Kahramanmaraş 73 Şırnak
20 Denizli 47 Mardin 74 Bartın
21 Diyarbakır 48 Muğla 75 Ardahan
22 Edirne 49 Muş 76 Iğdır
23 Elazığ 50 Nevşehir 77 Yalova
24 Erzincan 51 Niğde 78 Karabük
25 Erzurum 52 Ordu 79 Kilis
26 Eskişehir 53 Rize 80 Osmaniye
27 Gaziantep 54 Sakarya 81 Düzce

Province names until code 67 go alphabetically, with the exception of Mersin, Kahramanmaraş and Şanlıurfa provinces for their previous names taken in account were İçel, Maraş and Urfa, respectively. The ones after the original 67 provinces are newer additions, these province names go chronologically.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Plakadaki AB mavisine kırmızı etiketli protesto" (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 3 March 2013. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  2. ^ Yurtsan Atakan (July 9, 2008). "Bir dakika karanlığın AKP karşıtı versiyonu kırmızı bantlı plakalar" (in Turkish). Hürriyet. Archived from the original on 18 April 2013. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  3. ^ "Protokol: Prensip Genelge Notalar: Araçlar". T.C. Disisleri Bakanligi. Yabancı misyonlara ait resmi ve özel araçlara, ilgili temsilcilik için ayrılmış harf ve numara grubu içinden tahsis yapılması uygulamasına, 16 Haziran 2005 tarihi itibarıyla son verilmiş ve sözkonusu araçlara rastgele (random) plaka tahsisi yöntemine geçilmiştir. Böylelikle, güvenlik endişelerine sebep olan, diplomatik ve konsüler plakalı araçların hangi temsilciliğe ait olduklarının istenmeyen şahıslar tarafından bilinmesi durumu, büyük ölçüde önlenmiş bulunmaktadır.
  4. ^ Bellingcat Investigation Team (October 15, 2018). "Examining CCTV Videos of the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul Connected to Khashoggi's Disappearance". Bellingcat. The number plate number of this van is 34 CC 2342, which corresponds to the code for Istanbul (34) and vehicles used by consulates (CC).
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