The aile cüzdanı, the Turkish family record book, is the booklet handed over at marriage in which the family’s civil status entries are recorded. Abroad, a holder may want to present it as proof of the marriage and the children because it is already at hand. Yet the booklet passes less easily than the multilingual civil status extracts that carry the same information; this page explains why and shows the easier route.
The 1974 convention Germany has not joined
Since 1984 Türkiye has issued the international family record book under the CIEC convention of 13 September 1974; how the booklet is treated in the states that have acceded to that convention was not verified in this site’s survey. Germany has not acceded to it. The German missions in Türkiye therefore write that the family record book is recognised in Germany only with an apostille and a translation by a sworn translator. The same page states that the multilingual extracts, Formül A for a birth, Formül B for a marriage and Formül C for a death, are accepted without apostille and without translation, because Germany has acceded to the 1976 convention on which they rest. For a family moving to Germany the short route is clear: Formül B instead of the booklet, and Formül A for each child.
Putting an apostille on a bound booklet
The family record book is a bound booklet, and the apostille certificate is placed on the document or attached to it. Whether the apostille goes on the booklet itself or on a certified copy, either one certified by the civil registry office or a certified true copy (aslı gibidir) made by a notary, was not verified against an official source in this site’s survey. The Onikişubat District Governor’s Office writes that a plain photocopy is never apostilled and that only a copy certified by the competent authority or by a notary is considered. A copy from the civil registry office is an administrative document apostilled at the provincial or district governor’s office; a copy from a notary is a notarial act, likewise apostilled by the governor or district governor. Which of the two is expected differs from office to office and is asked before the visit.
The booklet against the current civil registry extract
The family record book and the nüfus kayıt örneği, the civil registry extract, are two different documents, and the German missions list them under separate headings. The extract is not multilingual either and, for Germany, needs an apostille and a sworn translation just like the booklet; unlike the booklet, it is also available through e-Apostil, the official Turkish electronic apostille system. Which of the two an institution abroad wants is asked of that institution.
Translating the booklet
If the booklet is to be translated, the pages the institution asks for are translated. The translation is made by a sworn translator (yeminli tercüman, whose oath is recorded at a Turkish notary) and certified by the notary; whether that certification needs an apostille is decided by the receiving institution. Since Germany asks for a translation by a sworn translator, whether a notarised translation made in Türkiye is accepted should be put to the Standesamt concerned in advance; the missions’ page says nothing on that point.
Which family document for which country
How the family record book is treated in the states that have acceded to the 1974 convention was not verified in this site’s survey; in the states that have acceded to the 1976 convention Formül A, B and C pass without apostille; in countries outside both, every document needs an apostille and a translation. Which country has acceded to which convention was not verified country by country in this site’s survey. Asking the receiving institution “which document, with which certification” costs less than preparing all three and apostilling some of them for nothing.