218 units were built between 1970 and 1984 under license from Matériel de Traction Electrique (MTE) of France.

DE 24 000 is the most commonly found locomotive class in Turkey (431 units produced, more than 100 in usable state).

To build up domestic competence on diesel engines, TCDD decided that the production would be done by Tülomsaş of Turkey.

They are now pulled by TCDD E68000s and have regular livery but still retain their long-distance national passenger rail network status.

This required both overspeeding the prime mover and modifying the traction motors' final drive ratios.