In the autumn, the TRNC will change the format of vehicle license plates

The authorities of the TRNC are preparing to reform vehicle registration plates. At the end of September, Northern Cyprus may begin issuing license plates with three letters and three numbers. The current format uses two letters and three numbers.

In an interview with Bagimsiz, TRNC Transport Minister Erhan Arıklı explained that the change is due to the country running out of combinations of letters and numbers in the current format. Starting today, license plates beginning with the letters “YP” will be issued.

According to the minister, after transitioning to the new format, the first issued license plate will be “AAA 001,” with the numbers and letters increasing sequentially.

The format of two letters and three numbers was first introduced on the island during British colonial rule in 1956. After the island was divided into two parts following Turkey's invasion in 1974, both communities continued using this format.

The Republic of Cyprus ran out of numbers in 1990 and switched to a new system, which it has used ever since. It took the TRNC longer to exhaust the old format and run through various possible combinations of numbers and letters.

The change will mean that, for the first time since 1990, both sides of the island will issue vehicle registration plates that are largely the same format.

However, several differences will remain between the license plates of the two sides. According to Cyprus-Mail, the prefixes “Z” and “T,” introduced in Cyprus in 1973 for rental cars, taxis, and buses, were removed from license plates in the Republic in 2013 but have been retained in the northern part of the island.

Additionally, taxis in the Republic of Cyprus have yellow license plates, whereas in the TRNC, they remain white.

Another difference is that after the Republic joined the European Union in 2004, license plates began to be issued with a blue mark on the left side, featuring the EU flag and the Cyprus country code — CY.

In 2018, the North introduced its own blue strip, featuring the logo of the Vehicle Registration Department and a number assigned to each license plate manufacturer, instead of the EU flag and country code.

Read also: What Do the Colors of License Plates Mean in Northern Cyprus?