Guyana is a recent arrival: its apostille relationship with Türkiye began on 18 April 2019, whereas the Suriname record goes back to 1975. This page is for Guyanese ministries, universities and employers receiving Turkish papers and for Turks in Guyana. It covers the 2018 accession, the line between files before and after 2019, the single certifying department, the date of its authority page and the translation of Guyanese documents into Turkish.
Guyana’s 2018 accession and an empty objection column
Guyana deposited its accession on 30 July 2018; the HCCH table shows 18 April 2019 with the letter A. Within the six-month window under article 12, neither Türkiye nor any other state objected, so the start between the two countries is Guyana’s own date. Guyana has objected to no later accession and is not named in the Kosovo note. It is not a Member of the Hague Conference, a record kept apart from the Convention table.
Guyanese files before and after 18 April 2019
Before that date there was no apostille route between the two countries. For a Turkish document that cannot receive an apostille, the information sheet of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs today lists the links translation, notary, governor’s office legalisation and the Ministry’s Legalisation Unit; which procedure Guyanese files followed before 2019 was not researched here. Since 18 April 2019, a Guyanese document comes to Türkiye with a Guyanese certificate and a Turkish one goes to Guyana with a Turkish certificate. Which rule applies when a Guyanese document legalised under the old procedure is reused before a Turkish institution was not found in this site’s survey; the institution is asked.
The Protocol and Consular Affairs Department in Guyana
According to the HCCH authority page, the certifying power in Guyana lies with the Protocol and Consular Affairs Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. No second authority, regional office or split by document type has been reported. A Guyanese birth record, diploma, court paper or notarial deed thus reaches a Turkish office with this department’s certificate. The word “consular” in the department’s name does not make the certificate a consular document: what article 1 of the Convention leaves out is documents drawn up by diplomatic or consular officers, not certificates placed by an office with that word in its name.
A Guyanese authority page dated August 2018
The authority page was written on 21 August 2018, three weeks after the accession was deposited and about eight months before the Convention began to operate for Guyana, and no later update is visible. It states no fee. The e-APP chart of 13 August 2026 has no Guyana row, and the authority page gives no online register. Guyana has not acceded to ETS 063, CIEC 16 or CIEC 17.
Turkish papers for Guyana and the Turkish version of Guyanese papers
A Turkish document for Guyana is certified by a Turkish authority. For administrative documents, from a civil registry extract to a diploma, the valilik or kaymakamlık, the governor’s office of a province or district, is competent. For notarial acts, a notarised translation or power of attorney among them, the certificate also comes from a governor or district governor; the amendment to article 199 of the Notaries Law freed the choice of place. Judicial documents, that is a criminal record extract and the original of a court judgment, are certified by the adli yargı adalet komisyonu başkanlığı. A certified document does not pass through the Legalisation Unit of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Which language and certification Guyanese institutions accept for a translation made in Türkiye, and how they treat a Turkish electronic certificate, was not found in this site’s survey. A Guyanese document is translated into Turkish from the certified copy; whether the certificate text is included is decided by the Turkish institution receiving it. A translation office renders the text and gives no view on a document legalised before 2019.