Orientation and Street Adresses in Turkey

ORIENTATION AND STREET ADDRESSES

Since few Turkish cities follow a grid plan, maps can be difficult to use. To avoid confusion, a three-tiered addressing system is used. Mahalle refers to the neighborhood, cadde or bulvar are avenues or boulevards, and a sokak is a street. A slash after the street number, or the word kat, introduces the number of the floor, if applicable. Mahalle(si) is abbreviated to Mah. , Cadde(si) to Cad., Bulvar(i) to Bui., and Sokak (or Sokağı) to Sok. Thus, a complete street address in Turkey might look like Çiğdem Mah. Atatürk Bul. Söğüt Sok. 6/2. This book, which prints street numbers directly before the streets to which they refer, would list this address as Atatürk Bul., 6/2 Söğüt Sok, Çiğdem Mah. It means the second floor of 6 Söğüt St., off Atatürk Ave., in the Çiğdem District. Few addresses will contain all of these parts. In towns and rural areas, the street names may not appear on maps. Rather than searching for street names and building numbers, ask for the place you’re seeking: “Aya Sofia nerede?” (Where is AyaSofia?).