The İstanbul Governor’s Office has announced it issued warnings to hundreds of stores in the city ordering them to comply with the law and ensure that a majority of their signs are written in Turkish, the Hürriyet Daily News reported.
In a press statement on Wednesday, the office said it had started work to make sure store signs are in Turkish and Arabic, instead of only in Arabic.
It said signs in all 39 districts would be changed and that a “pilot scheme” would begin in the Fatih, Zeytinburnu and Bayrampaşa districts, home to large migrant communities.
“Some 730 workplaces have been warned to correct the content of the shop signs in a reasonable period of time,” the statement said, adding that shop-owners who fail to abide by the regulation will face legal penalties.
According to the regulation set by the Turkish Standards Institute (TSE), shop signs in Turkey must include at least 75 percent Turkish content. The remaining 25 percent can include expressions in foreign languages, according to the TSE.
Some 98 shops in Zeytinburnu and 38 shops in Bayrampaşa were determined to “not conform to the standards,” according to the authorities.
“Inspections will be carried out jointly with the governor’s office, provincial security directorate, district governors offices, municipalities and the provincial directorates of the Istanbul immigration authority,” the statement said.
The governor’s office said the instruction to storekeepers to install signs in line with Turkish standards was issued by the Interior Ministry.