Sworn translation in Ankara for foreigners and international companies

Most people who contact us are foreign nationals living in Türkiye or companies with foreign owners. Their documents usually fall into five groups.

• Residence and citizenship. Birth and marriage certificates, criminal record certificates and parental consent letters from abroad, for a file at Göç İdaresi (the Presidency of Migration Management).
• Civil registry. Marriage, birth and divorce documents that a nüfus müdürlüğü (civil registry office) must record.
• Company documents. Papers of a parent company abroad that a Turkish bank or public body wants to see.
• Studies and work. Diplomas and transcripts for a Turkish university, an employer or a work permit file.
• Documents going abroad. Turkish court decisions, powers of attorney and certificates that an authority in another country must accept.

For each group, the receiving institution decides the format. Many ask for a notarised translation. Some also want an apostille or a consular chain on the original. Ask the institution for its current list before you order.

In Türkiye a sworn translator (yeminli tercüman) is a translator who has taken an oath at a notary's office. The notary writes the oath into a report that both sign, and keeps it on file. A notary may only use translators whose oath report is in that office's file.

Before using a translator, the notary must be satisfied that the translator knows the language well. Diplomas and other documents can show this.

A notarised translation is a separate step. Translating documents is one of the duties Turkish law gives to notaries. The notary adds an endorsement under the translated text, then dates, signs and seals it. When a sworn translator did the work, the endorsement names the translator and gives their address.

Turkish law treats a notarised translation as valid until someone proves otherwise. That is why many institutions ask for this form. The residence permit lists of Göç İdaresi, for example, ask for a notarised Turkish translation of documents obtained abroad. You can read more about the sworn translator's role and about the notary's endorsement on translations.

An apostille confirms the signature on a document, the capacity of the person who signed it and, where relevant, the seal. It does not confirm the content. It does not confirm that a translation is accurate either.

In Türkiye, the office that issues it depends on the document:

• A notarised translation or an administrative document: a governor's office (valilik) or a district governor's office (kaymakamlık). The office of any province or district can do it.
• The original of a Turkish court document: the presidency of the justice commission (adalet komisyonu başkanlığı).

A notarised translation of a court decision is a notarial act. Its apostille therefore comes from a governor's or district governor's office, not from the justice commission.

For a foreign document coming into Türkiye, the apostille is added in the country that issued it, on the original. If that country is outside the Apostille Convention, the document passes through its own authorities, its consulate or embassy and a Turkish authority instead. Our page on apostilles and consular legalisation explains both routes.

A notarised translation made in Türkiye and used in Türkiye needs no apostille. The Convention only covers documents that one state issues and another state must accept.

Send us a clear scan or photo of every page. Include stamps, seals and the back of the document if anything is written there. Tell us three things:

1. which institution will receive the translation, in Türkiye or abroad;
2. which language the translation must be in;
3. whether the institution asks for a notarised translation, an apostille or both.

We reply with a quote. Once you approve it, a sworn translator starts work.

Keep the original document at hand. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs authentication FAQ, a Turkish notary cannot certify a copy of a foreign authority's document as a true copy. The institution may also want to see the original at your appointment.

Check the spelling of names before the translation goes to the notary. A name written in Latin letters goes into Turkish records exactly as written, with its accents. A name in another script is transliterated letter by letter. If your documents spell a name differently, the documents of your country of nationality prevail. Tell us which spelling your passport uses.