Possible hydrocarbon source rocks are located in the northwest of the western Taurus region within a Mesozoic-Cenozoic carbonate platform sequence that consists of the Elmali Nappe units and adjacent autochthonous Beydaglari units. The hydrocarbon source rock potential of this area belonging to a number of different sedimentary cycles and tectonic units was studied on core-samples with a Leco WR 12 apparatus and Rock Eval pyrolysis. Two significant source rock intervals, which were penetrated by the Buyukalan-1, Altinyayla-1/A, and Kirkpinar-1 wells representing an area of about 1200 km 2, occur within and beneath the Elmali Nappes, namely, (1) the unit the Lower-Middle Eocene to Burdigalian Yavuz Group and (2) the Aquitanian-Burdigalian Sinekci Formation. The thermal maturation of these units resulted mainly from tectonic burial during Middle Miocene overthrusting. The total organic carbon values of most of the samples are about 0.3%. This suggests a source threshold of organic carbon for limestones. The S-1, S-2, Hydrogen Index (HI), and T-max values from the Rock-Eval pyrolysis indicate that the dominant organic matter is Type III kerogen that has gas generative potential. The low hydrocarbon yield of the source intervals might have been the result of the dissolution of the carbonates through karstification.