Apostille in Turkey: who issues it and where

The costliest mistake is bringing a document into Turkey without an apostille. Only the country that issued the document can apostille it, so a Russian or Ukrainian document cannot be apostilled in Turkey. This page is compiled from official sources: the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Alanya District Governorship and the Hague Conference.

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The basic rule

Only the issuing country can apostille a document. No Turkish authority — district governorship, provincial governorship, courthouse, notary or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs — can apostille a foreign document.
A document brought in without an apostille has to go back to the issuing country. It cannot be fixed in Turkey.
Turkey has two issuing authorities: administrative documents go to the district or provincial governorship, judicial documents to the justice commission at the courthouse.
Both exist in Alanya. There is no need to travel to Antalya.
An apostille at the governorship is free of charge. What you pay for is translation and notarisation.
The apostille is translated together with the document, as it is attached inseparably to it.
Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan are all parties to the Hague Convention and it applies between them and Turkey. Consular legalisation is not required.

An apostille certifies the signature, the capacity of the signatory and the seal. It says nothing about the content of the document and does not confirm that the document was drawn up correctly.

Apostille, translation or notary first?

The order depends on the direction. Getting it wrong is the second most common reason the whole job has to be redone.

1.0

Foreign document → to be used in Turkey

Certificates, criminal record, power of attorney, diploma

Apostille in the issuing country → translation in Turkey → notarisation in Turkey. Both the document and the apostille text are translated. The Turkish translation does not need its own apostille, since the document stays in Turkey.

2.0

Turkish document → abroad, translated there

Usually the safest route

Apostille in Turkey → take the document with you → translation and notarisation in the destination country. Russian and Ukrainian institutions usually require a translation certified by their own notary.

3.0

Turkish document → abroad, translated in Turkey

The order is reversed

Translation → notarisation → apostille last. The apostille certifies the notary's signature, so it comes at the end. Done the other way round, the notary's signature is left without an apostille.

Where to go in Alanya

Administrative documents and anything certified by a notary — power of attorney, consent, notarised copy, notarised translation — go to the Alanya District Governorship, District Registry Office (İlçe Yazı İşleri Müdürlüğü). In the governorship's own public service standards table this service is listed sixth with a stated completion time of 15 minutes; it accepts official documents issued by public institutions within Alanya and documents bearing notarial certification. Address: Güller Pınarı Mah., İzzet Azakoğlu Cad., 07400 Alanya. Phone: 0242 513 19 07. Judicial documents — divorce and custody rulings, criminal record certificates, court and prosecutor's correspondence — go to the Justice Commission of the Court of First Instance at the Alanya Courthouse on Keykubat Bulvarı. Alanya has a heavy penal court, so this commission sits here. A document issued in another district or province is apostilled where it was issued, not in Alanya. Electronic apostille (e-apostil) has operated in Turkey since 2019 through eapostil.gov.tr and the e-Devlet portal. It covers population register extracts, multilingual birth, marriage and death certificates, court rulings and criminal record certificates.

Frequently asked questions

Is it true that a treaty between Turkey and Russia removes the apostille requirement?

No. The 1997 agreement on legal assistance in civil, commercial and criminal matters was signed but never entered into force: in 2002 the parties agreed not to ratify it, and Russia's decision not to be a party was approved in December 2015. Russia does not appear on the Turkish Ministry of Justice's list of countries with a bilateral agreement in civil matters. The agreement in force between the two countries covers criminal matters only. Russian documents require an apostille.

What about Ukrainian documents?

This is less clear-cut. Article 13 of the 2000 Turkey–Ukraine agreement (Law No. 4920) states that documents from one party are not subject to legalisation in the territory of the other. In practice, however, Turkish notaries, civil registry offices, the migration authority and the courts still ask for an apostille, and Turkey does not appear on Ukraine's list of countries whose documents are accepted without legalisation. The safest route is to obtain the apostille in Ukraine.

Can a Russian document be apostilled in Turkey?

No. Only the issuing country can apostille a document. In Russia this is done by the Ministry of Justice and its bodies, the civil registry (ZAGS) offices, the Ministry of Internal Affairs bodies, the competent education authority for educational documents and the archive authorities for archival documents. Russian consulates in Turkey cannot issue an apostille.

How much does an apostille cost?

At Turkish district and provincial governorships the apostille is free of charge; the governorships state this officially and separately warn against intermediaries who collect fees in their name. What you pay for is translation and notarisation.

Does the apostille stamp itself have to be translated?

Yes. The apostille is attached inseparably to the document and in practice is translated along with it: its number, date, issuing authority and signature. For that reason do not order a translation before the apostille has been affixed, or the translation will have to be done again.

What does an apostille look like?

A square stamp with sides of at least 9 cm. The heading must be in French: «Apostille (Convention de La Haye du 5 octobre 1961)». It has ten numbered fields: country, who signed the document, in what capacity, whose seal it bears, place and date of certification, the certifying authority, number, seal and signature. The first four relate to the document, the remaining six to the apostille itself.

I have the apostille. Do I also need certification from the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs?

No. A document bearing an apostille is not and cannot be certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; its certification unit states this explicitly. An apostilled document is submitted directly to the authority in the country where it will be used.

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