New Era for License Plates in Istanbul

The license plate allocation system in Istanbul is facing a shortage of letter groups. With only five letter series remaining, the possibility of reusing canceled plates or introducing a three-letter, four-digit system is being considered.The increasing number of vehicles in Istanbul has led to a rapid depletion of the available letter groups for license plate allocation. New vehicle purchases and the conversion of vehicles from other provinces to the 34 plate code have resulted in the exhaustion of most of the existing series. Currently, the R letter series is being used, followed by the S, U, V, Y, and Z letter groups. In the event of the letter series being depleted, the option of reassigning canceled three-letter plates or expanding the digit group to four digits may be evaluated. Outside of Istanbul, there are no immediate concerns regarding the letter and digit groups on license plates. In Istanbul, a new letter group is depleted approximately every 6-8 months. The decision to be made by the law enforcement units will be binding.