Turkish Notary Translation

What the notary is actually certifying

This is the most widely misunderstood point in the process, and getting it wrong leads people to buy certifications that do not do what they think. When a Turkish notary certifies a translation, the step called noter onayı or noter tasdiki (notary certification), the notary is not confirming that the translation is accurate. The notary does not read the foreign text and does not assess the rendering. What the notary confirms is that the person who signed the translation is a sworn translator registered at that notary, that the signature is genuinely theirs, and that they have taken the required oath.

Accuracy remains the translator's responsibility. The notary's certification adds an institutional record that a specific, accountable person produced the text. That is valuable precisely because it is narrow, and it is why a notarised translation of a badly translated document is still a badly translated document. Notary certification does not guarantee that any office will accept the result either; acceptance is the receiving office's decision.

Why it has to be the translator's own notary

Because the notary is confirming its own register, a translation is certified at a notary where the translator who signed it is registered, and only for a language recorded there. For translations our founder signs, that is the Beyoğlu 10th and 13th Notaries. Two consequences follow. A translation by someone who has never taken the oath, however good, cannot be notarised at all, which is why a bilingual friend's version is not an option (see who can translate a document for a Turkish notary). And a translation produced abroad by a translator who is not on a Turkish notary's register cannot be certified here either.

Which documents usually need it

Notary certification tends to be required where a document will be relied on by a public body or a court, or will be sent abroad. In practice that includes birth, marriage and death certificates, diplomas and transcripts, criminal record extracts, powers of attorney (vekâletname), company documents such as the Trade Registry Gazette (Türkiye Ticaret Sicili Gazetesi) and the imza sirküleri (signature circular), and court judgments. For foreign nationals these are usually documents entering a residence permit, work permit, citizenship or marriage file. For Turkish citizens and companies they are usually documents leaving for a consulate, a foreign registry or a counterparty abroad. Notary certification is also the precursor to an apostille on a translation, because the apostille is placed on the notarial act rather than on the translation itself.

Requirements are not uniform. Two offices of the same institution in different provinces have been known to ask for different things, and requirements change. Anyone who tells you a category of document always needs notarisation, or never does, is generalising past the evidence. Ask the receiving office, in writing if possible, before ordering.

How the notary step works

The translation is prepared first, signed by the sworn translator, and presented at the notary together with the source document or a copy of it. The notary checks its register, verifies the signature and issues the certification, which is bound to the translation. For some documents the notary wants to see the original rather than a copy, so we confirm that before the appointment rather than discover it at the counter.

Signing something yourself is a different matter. If you do not speak Turkish and are signing a power of attorney or another deed at a notary, the notary will generally require a sworn interpreter, so that it can be shown you understood what you signed, and will check the interpreter's identity and registration. That is a separate service arranged in advance; see Turkish Interpreting.

Where notarised files go wrong

• Notarising by default for an office that accepts a plain sworn translation: an extra cost with no benefit.
• Notarising the translation of a foreign document before it was apostilled in its country of issue. The apostille arrives later, is not in the translation, and both the translation and the notary step have to be repeated.
• Notarising a translation for use abroad when the receiving office wanted the apostille on the original Turkish document instead, or on both.
• Pages separated after binding, or the copy of the source missing from the set, which leaves the certification attached to an incomplete document.
• Names that do not match the passport. Notarisation records who translated the text; it does nothing to correct it.

What we need from you

A complete scan of the document, front and back; the passport spelling of each name; the receiving office and country, and whether it has asked for notary certification specifically; and, where the notary must see the original, a way to get it to us. The notary's charges are a separate item from the translation, so send the document for a quote and see how sworn translation is priced. For the translation underneath this step see Turkish Sworn Translation, and for the step after it see Apostille Services in Turkey.