International Apostille in Turkey

APOSTILLE IN TURKEY

Apostille is an institution that approves the legal use of the document in another country by confirming whether it is real or not. Apostille in Turkey can be obtained for foreign documents and makes these documents valid in other countries. After the 1961 Convention on the Abolition of the Requirement for Certification of Foreign Official Documents was adopted, a simpler method was introduced in order to determine the authenticity of foreign official documents. In Turkish law, the institution of apostille annotation has been introduced instead of certification in terms of foreign official documents. In order for the documents issued by foreign state authorities to have the title of official document in Turkey, the requirement of approval has left its place to the apostille requirement. In current law, the certification process is no longer a legal obligation, but an apostille annotation is required for the gap that has arisen.

As a rule, an apostille annotation can only be issued upon request. An apostille annotation will be issued in line with the request of the person who has signed or brought the document in question. An apostille annotation may also be requested by the official authority or notary public that issued the said document.

Apostille costs will be determined according to the law of the state in which this annotation will be issued. However, it should be noted that the costs are regulated in the contract to be reasonable. It is also possible for the winning party to compensate the other party for the costs of the apostille annotation received for the case.

CONTENT OF THE APOSTILLE

1.Whether the document was issued by an official person

2.Whether the signature on the document belongs to official person

3.Whether the seal or stamp on the document belongs to official person

These issues are confirmed in the apostille annotation. It is not investigated whether the official authority is authorized in this regard. Compliance with the procedure is also outside the scope.

With the receipt of the apostille, the authenticity of the signature, seal and stamp on the foreign document is proven. This matter will be taken into account by the necessary official authorities.

WHO ISSUES THE APOSTILLE?

As a rule, each state will determine the authority that will be authorized to issue the apostille. Where the competent authority will be is at the discretion of the states. States are obliged to notify the authorities they will designate to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Therefore, states are obliged to designate and notify this competent authority. In many states, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is generally authorized in this regard, but the Ministry of Justice, notaries and courts are also the leading authorities.

In Turkish law, there are authorities that are authorized to issue an apostille annotation. These authorities vary according to the type of document.

Authorities to issue apostille annotation for administrative documents
In provinces: governors, deputy governors and directors of legal affairs. Due to the excess workload, this authority was transferred to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the provincial editor, provincial administrative board director, legal affairs branch manager and directorate chiefs were authorized.
In the districts: they are the district governors. You can request an apostille from the chiefs of legal affairs in districts where there is a district editor-in-chief and a chief of legal affairs.
Authorities to issue an apostille for judicial documents
The Presidency of the Judicial Justice Commission in the place where the High Criminal Court is located.

HOW IS THE APOSTILLE GRANTED?

As a rule, the apostille is placed on the foreign document in question or on the paper to be attached to it. In this context, the apostille can be placed directly on the foreign document, or it is legally possible to put it on a separate paper. If the apositil is placed on the paper, it is mandatory to attach this paper to the document subject to the annotation. There is an example of an apostille annotation in the contract in order to set an example for the states. It is important that the apostille annotation to be given by the states is in accordance with the example in this contract. According to this example, the side lengths of the annotation must be at least 9 cm long. Although it is quite possible that the records to be included in the annotation are written in English or French, it is also legally valid that they are written in the official language of the authority that put the annotation. As you can see in the example below, there are both French and Turkish entries in the annotation. The title is in French and the other records are expressed in Turkish. The annotation should be prepared with the size of 14×14 cm and the Times New Roman font using 12 points. It is important that the authority authorized to issue an apostille annotation prepares this annotation according to the aforementioned qualifications.

(The title must be written in French.)

The information that should be included in the apostille annotation;

Name of the country where the document was issued
Name and title of the signatory
The name of the authority to which the seal belongs
The place of certification
Confirmed date
Name of the authority issuing the apostille
Apostille number
Signature of the official who issued the apostille
Seal or stamp of the authority issuing the apostille

WHICH DOCUMENTS CAN BE APOSTILLED?

Documents issued by an official or official of a state court or court, including documents issued by a prosecutor, court clerk or court officer
Administrative documents
Notary documents
It is placed on documents signed by individuals in a private capacity, and the record of the document is official statements (such as education documents, diplomas, marriage certificates, power of attorneys, identity documents, identity documents, commercial documents, etc.)

HOW IS APOSTILLE AUDIT DONE?

Sometimes the accuracy of the information on the apostille annotation may become questionable. In order to prevent malicious transactions in practice, control mechanisms have been considered to question the truth of the apostille annotation. As a rule, all the authorities authorized to issue apostille annotations are obliged to keep a registry or index of receipt in which their annotations will be recorded. In this book, the registry or the index of the receipt, the sequence number and date of the apostille annotation, the name of the person who signed the official document, the title of the person who signed the annotation or the information about the authority that put the seal or stamp in terms of unsigned documents should be recorded.

In case of the request of the persons concerned, the competent authority examines the records in this registry or slip index and determines the compliance of the information with these records. Anyone who has an interest in this matter can request this review process. It is also possible to be registered in the registry by giving an apostille number.

ELECTRONIC APOSTILLE

The electronic apostille method both saves time and costs less economically. It also offers a more reliable way to truth. You can complete your transaction either by electronic registration method or by creating an electronic apostille. You can make an electronic apostille by issuing an electronic apostille with pdf technology and adding a digital certificate and a digital signature.

VALIDITY PERIOD OF THE APOSTILLE

There is no time limit in the Hague Convetion regarding the validity period of the apostille annotation. This issue was left to the discretion of the states, and each country was expected to determine this period on its own. While this period is limited in some countries, it has been put into practice indefinitely in some countries. Apostille annotation in Turkey is not limited in terms of time, it is applied indefinitely. However, when the validity period of a document with an apostille annotation comes, the apostille annotation loses its validity along with the document. However, it should not be forgotten that the apostille annotation made on the population registration samples is valid for 6 months.

APOSTILLE COUNTRIES

-Germany
-U.S.A
-Australia
-Belgium
-Chinese
-Denmark
-Finland
-France
-India
-Holland
-England
-Spain
-Switzerland
-Sweden
-Italy
-Japan
-Canada
-Cyprus
-Luxembourg
-Macedonia
-Malta
-Norway
-Panama
-Poland
-Portugal
-Romania
-Russia
-New Zeland
-Greece