How to Write a Turkish Address Correctly

A Turkish address works from the neighbourhood downwards: neighbourhood, street, building number, apartment, then the postal code with district and province. Knowing the Turkish terms makes it easy to fill in forms correctly.

Component order

1. Recipient name
2. Neighbourhood (mahalle, often written Mah.)
3. Main street (cadde, Cad.) and/or street (sokak, Sok.)
4. Building number (No or Kapı No)
5. Apartment (Daire, D.) and floor (Kat), if applicable
6. Building or complex name (Apt., Sitesi, Blok), if any
7. Postal code, district (ilçe) and province (il)

The district and province are traditionally written with a slash, for example District/Province, with the postal code before them.

Key terms

• Mahalle — neighbourhood, the main local unit in a city address.
• Cadde / Sokak — avenue / street. Some addresses use both, such as an avenue with a side street.
• Bulvar — boulevard, for wide main roads.
• No — building number; Daire — apartment.
• Sitesi, Blok — a housing complex and a block inside it.
• Köy — village, used in rural addresses in place of a neighbourhood.

Script considerations

Turkish uses the Latin alphabet with extra letters (ç, ğ, ı, İ, ö, ş, ü). Keep them where possible, because dotless and dotted i are different letters and names can change meaning when replaced by plain i. For international mail, many senders write the address without special characters; it usually still works, but local couriers prefer the original spelling.

Buildings, complexes and landmarks

In large cities, many people live in housing complexes (site) with several blocks and a shared gate. In such cases the complex name and block letter or number matter as much as the street. A nearby landmark such as a mosque, a pharmacy or a bus stop is often added in a note, since couriers and neighbours commonly navigate that way.

Example with placeholder values

Ayşe Örnek
Örnek Mah. Deneme Cad. Gül Sok. No: 12 Daire: 5
Örnek Sitesi, B Blok
00000 Merkez / Örnekşehir
Türkiye

Adding an exact point

A UPCS code such as TR-XXXX-XXXX, placed in a note field, can mark the exact door, gate or entrance. It is optional and unofficial; see the Turkey postal code format for the official part. For lookup help, read find a postal code in Turkey.