For administrative registration under Article 27/A of Turkish Civil Registration Services Law No. 5490, the decision must have been issued by a competent authority in Germany, must be final under German law and must not be manifestly contrary to Turkish public policy. The application may be submitted to the competent Turkish foreign mission in Germany or to a provincial directorate of population and citizenship affairs in Türkiye authorised to process these applications. Processing the application through the consulate does not mean that the German divorce case is reheard on its merits.
As a rule, the parties apply in person or through their representatives. They do not have to appear at the same time, but separate applications must be completed before the same authority and no more than 90 days may elapse between them. This is not a general registration deadline running from the date of the divorce decision. If one party has died or is a foreign national, the other party who is a Turkish citizen, or that party’s representative, may apply alone. A Turkish-German dual national who has retained Turkish citizenship is not treated solely as a foreign spouse for this exception. The application guidance of the Turkish Consulate General in Berlin also refers to the possibility of a unilateral application where the former spouse holds a Mavi Kart, or Blue Card.
Document preparation begins with the divorce decision obtained from the German court. It is not enough merely to show that a decision was issued; its finality must also be documented. For that reason, the Rechtskraftvermerk, or finality notation, should be checked together with the Scheidungsbeschluss or, for older decisions, the Scheidungsurteil. If finality is certified in a separate document, that document should also be included. An e-mail printout or ordinary photocopy should not be substituted for the properly issued copy required by the chosen procedure.
An apostille attached to a German court decision authenticates the signature on the document, the capacity of the person signing it and, where applicable, the seal or stamp. It does not confirm the substance of the decision and does not replace proof of finality or the Turkish registration or recognition procedure. The apostille is obtained from the competent German authority. Where the certificate of finality is issued separately from the judgment, its authentication status should also be checked separately. This distinction follows from the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention.
The decision and the document proving finality should be translated into Turkish together with the relevant endorsements, including the apostille. Depending on where the translation will be used, the appropriate notarial or Turkish consular certification must be completed. For consular applications, a translation prepared by a translator registered with the relevant Turkish foreign mission and certified by that mission may be required; a translation prepared by a sworn translator in Germany is therefore not automatically sufficient for every application. The application form and identity documents must also be prepared. The document list published by the Turkish Consulate General in Hannover sets out the stages relating to the decision, finality, apostille and translation. Practical details such as the number of copies and appointment procedure should be checked against the current requirements of the authority where the application will be filed.
The process can generally be handled without travelling to Türkiye. Administrative registration may be completed at a Turkish consulate or followed in Türkiye through an appropriately drafted power of attorney. A power of attorney executed at a Turkish consulate does not require an additional apostille for use in Türkiye. A power of attorney executed before a German notary, however, may require an apostille and a properly certified Turkish translation. Consular document lists for administrative registration require a special power of attorney bearing a photograph. The instrument should expressly authorise registration of the foreign divorce decision in the Turkish civil register; relying only on the label “general power of attorney” is not sufficient.
If the conditions for administrative registration cannot be met, recognition proceedings may be brought in Türkiye. For example, where both parties are Turkish citizens and one of them does not participate in the administrative application, the other spouse may use the court route. It is not necessary to obtain a prior refusal from the consulate before filing the case. If recognition or enforcement proceedings concerning the same decision are already pending in Türkiye, a parallel administrative registration application cannot be pursued at the consulate; earlier applications and proceedings should therefore be disclosed at the outset.
The competent court for recognition of a divorce decision is the family court. Where no family court exists, the civil court of first instance acts in that capacity. This allocation of subject-matter jurisdiction is governed by Law No. 4787. As a rule, territorial jurisdiction lies with the court at the other party’s domicile in Türkiye, or, if there is no domicile, at that party’s place of residence. If neither exists in Türkiye, one of the courts in Ankara, Istanbul or Izmir may be chosen. The fact that both parties live in Germany therefore does not prevent recognition proceedings from being brought in Türkiye.
Recognition proceedings do not reopen the reasons why the marriage ended. The Turkish court examines the statutory conditions for recognition, including finality, public policy and the protection of the right to be heard. The former spouse’s refusal to consent to recognition is not, by itself, a ground for dismissal; however, the petition and hearing date must be served in accordance with the applicable rules. If the current address is unknown, service abroad can significantly lengthen the proceedings. A person living in Germany may conduct the case through a lawyer admitted to practise in Türkiye under a power of attorney containing the necessary authority.
Registration of the divorce in the Turkish civil register does not make every provision of the German decision automatically enforceable in Türkiye. If maintenance or damages are to be compulsorily recovered in Türkiye, the need for enforcement proceedings must be assessed separately. Provisions on parental responsibility and contact with a child are also considered under their own rules and any applicable international conventions. Recognition and enforcement therefore do not have the same scope. Articles 50 to 59 of Law No. 5718 on Private International Law and International Civil Procedure provide the principal framework for the court route.
At the outset, the name, surname, date of birth and citizenship details in the German decision should be compared with the Turkish civil registration record. If the surname was changed in Germany or the decision was issued using a German identity, additional records may be needed to establish that the documents relate to the same person. If the marriage celebrated abroad was never registered in Türkiye, the marriage record must first be completed. A missing finality notation, an uncertified translation or an insufficient power of attorney can delay the application. Once the process is completed, the civil registration record should also be checked. For the divorce, the relevant date is not the date of the Turkish application but the date on which the German decision became final.
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An inheritance in Türkiye may include property, bank accounts or business interests, even when the family lives in Germany. Much of the administration can be handled through a representative in Türkiye. First establish the heirs and liabilities, then identify each institution’s requirements for releasing assets or updating records.
A person living in Germany does not always need to travel to Türkiye to sell property there, handle inheritance matters, deal with a bank account or bring court proceedings. Many procedures can be handled through an appropriate power of attorney. Whether the document can be used in Türkiye depends not only on where it was executed, but also on the powers it contains and the formal requirements of the intended transaction. A consular power of attorney, a German notarial instrument, an apostille and a translation each serve a different function in that process.
As a general rule, heirs acquire the estate upon death. Tapu intikali, the land registry transfer of inherited title, records that acquisition in the Turkish land register; it does not create ownership afresh in the manner of a sale. Registration is nevertheless required before an heir can carry out dispositions such as a sale of the property. The transfer therefore does not replace a later partition of the estate or a sale. Turkish Civil Code, Articles 599 and 705.
In a Turkish estate, the family may know that the deceased held a bank account, time deposit, participation account or investment portfolio in Türkiye. In other cases the heirs do not know which institution holds the assets. For an heir living in Germany, the first step is therefore not withdrawing the money but identifying the estate in an orderly way. The location of the assets, the form of inheritance evidence, Turkish inheritance tax and the rights of co-heirs all affect the process.