Vehicle registration plates of Turkey

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

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.

Dimensions

*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

The blue stripe was introduced after the entry of Turkey to the European Customs Union in 1996, 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). 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.

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

Numbering system

The text format on the plates is one of the following:
*"34 P 3169", "34 P 03169"
*"31 PA 069", "34 PA 3169" or
*"31 POR 69", "31 POR 069"

In some provinces, numbering is categorized in groups for tax collecting offices of different districts, for example Dolmuş in Ankara have plates of the form "34 P 3169" and a(ny) vehicle from Polatlı, Ankara has plates of the form '31 POR 69', "06 PO 3169" from Etimesgut district. On the other hand, a Dolmuş in Eskişehir has a plate of the form "26 P 3169".

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.

3169/069/69 – four, three or two digits, depending on the number of letters before, not exceeding six letters and digits altogether.

Types

})), with golden text on a red background.
, -
, 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, 700999 Gendarmerie. In Gendarmerie plates 7XX999, sometimes the XX digits indicates the province code of the gendarmerie located in.
, -
, 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

First two digits indicating the province code:

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

* Vehicle registration plate
* Vehicle registration plates of Europe

References

External links

*

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