Turkey's 81 Provinces: Which Ones Players Miss on the Map
October 26, 2026 · 4 min read
Turkey has 81 provinces (il), and in Turkey every child learns them with their licence plate numbers, from 01 Adana to 81 Düzce. Our Turkey map game asks you to find them on a blank map, by name or by plate number.
Since it launched in early October 2026, players have answered 3,069 questions, with 73% right. That is a strong score for a map with 81 places on it, and it says a lot about how well Turkish players know their country. But some provinces are missed about half the time.
The hardest provinces
| Province | Plate | Found |
|---|---|---|
| Aksaray | 68 | 48% |
| Nevşehir | 50 | 50% |
| Kırşehir | 40 | 50% |
| Muş | 49 | 51% |
| Bitlis | 13 | 51% |
| Çorum | 19 | 53% |
| Bingöl | 12 | 53% |
| Tunceli | 62 | 53% |
| Amasya | 05 | 56% |
| Bilecik | 11 | 56% |
| Aydın | 09 | 57% |
| Kırıkkale | 71 | 57% |
Each province was asked between 30 and 43 times.
The easiest
Hakkari and Ankara (97% each), Bursa (94%), Balıkesir and Sivas (92% each). Hakkari is easy because it sits in a corner of the country, the far south-east, bordering Iraq and Iran. Corners and coasts are always easier than the middle.
The middle of Anatolia
Three of the four hardest provinces, Aksaray, Nevşehir and Kırşehir, plus Kırıkkale further down the list, are small provinces in Central Anatolia, between Ankara and Kayseri. They have similar sizes, no coast, and no border with another country to help you.
Players mix them up with each other:
| Asked for | Clicked instead | Times |
|---|---|---|
| Kırşehir | Nevşehir | 6 |
| Kırşehir | Kırıkkale | 5 |
| Nevşehir | Kırşehir | 4 |
The names do not help: Kırşehir and Nevşehir both end in "şehir" (city), and Kırşehir and Kırıkkale both start with "Kır". A layout to remember, from north to south:
- Kırıkkale is just east of Ankara.
- Kırşehir is south-east of Kırıkkale.
- Nevşehir, home of Cappadocia, is south of Kırşehir.
- Aksaray is west of Nevşehir, on the shore of the salt lake Tuz Gölü.
New provinces and old ones
The first 67 plate numbers were given in alphabetical order. Provinces 68 to 81 were created later, from 1989 to 1999, by splitting older provinces. Aksaray (68), the hardest province on our map, and Kırıkkale (71) are both in this group.
The newer provinces also explain some of the most common wrong clicks:
| Asked for | Clicked instead | Times |
|---|---|---|
| Batman | Siirt | 7 |
| Sakarya | Kocaeli | 6 |
| Malatya | Diyarbakır | 5 |
| Muş | Bitlis | 5 |
| Sakarya | Düzce | 4 |
| Bingöl | Tunceli | 4 |
| Ordu | Giresun | 4 |
| Iğdır | Ağrı | 4 |
Batman (72) was part of Siirt until 1990, and players still click Siirt when they look for it. Düzce (81) was split from Bolu in 1999 and sits right next to Sakarya, which also borders Kocaeli. Those three provinces along the motorway from Istanbul to Ankara are easy to mix up.
Eastern Anatolia
Muş, Bitlis, Bingöl and Tunceli are all in our bottom ten. They are mountainous provinces west of Lake Van. Use the lake as your anchor: Bitlis touches its south-western shore, Muş is just north-west of Bitlis, Bingöl is west of Muş, and Tunceli is north-west of Bingöl.
How to get better
- Learn the seven regions first. Marmara, Aegean, Mediterranean, Central Anatolia, Black Sea, Eastern Anatolia, South-eastern Anatolia. Our regions of Turkey map is a quick way in.
- Then learn one region at a time. The Black Sea region map is a good one to drill, with its long chain of coastal provinces.
- Use the plate numbers. If you already know a province's plate, the plate round in the Turkey map game helps you connect the number to the place.
The game page is in Turkish, but you only need to click the map.
About this data
These are 3,069 answers on the DodoThinks Turkey map between 6 October and 26 October 2026. Because the map has 81 provinces, each one has been asked about 40 times so far, so single percentages can still move a few points as more people play.