A power of attorney (vekâletname) drawn up before a Turkish notary for use abroad follows one of the shortest chains in the apostille system: the document is a notarial act, and the notary’s signature on it is certified by a single authority. The one decision that matters is the office, since a power of attorney taken to the wrong office is handed back at the counter.
Which authority: the governor or district governor
Article 199 of the Turkish Notaries Law provides that, where a notarial act drawn up in Türkiye is to be used in a foreign country, the notary’s signature and seal are certified by the highest administrative officer of any province or district, that is the vali (provincial governor) or the kaymakam (district governor). A power of attorney is a notarial act, so its apostille comes from the valilik or kaymakamlık, the governor’s or district governor’s office. The adalet komisyonu, the judicial commission at a high criminal court seat, apostilles the originals of judicial documents, and a power of attorney is not one of them.
No provincial or district limit since 2024
The earlier wording of the article tied the certification to the governor’s office of the place where the notary sat. That restriction was removed by Law no. 7533 of 21 November 2024, which took effect on 30 November 2024. A power of attorney signed before a notary in one district can now be apostilled at the governor’s office of another province or at any district governor’s office. Some official pages still repeat the old rule; the current text is the law itself, and a receiving authority that sees an apostille from a different district than the notary’s is looking at a normal document.
What the apostille certifies on a power of attorney
The apostille does not assess the content of the power of attorney, whether the powers granted are sufficient or how the document will operate in the receiving country. What it certifies is the notary’s signature, capacity and seal, nothing else. Whether the powers are drafted in a way that works under the law of the receiving country is a question for the lawyer or institution that will use the document, and it should be settled before the notary draws it up.
Translation and order of steps
If the power of attorney is wanted in the language of the receiving country, the Turkish text is translated by a sworn translator (yeminli tercüman, a translator whose oath is recorded at a notary) and the translation is certified by a notary. The apostille is then placed on the notary’s certification of the translation and again issued by the governor or district governor; the apostille attests the notarial certification, not the accuracy of the translation. The receiving side may want both the Turkish original and the translation apostilled; which form is accepted is decided by the authority that will use the document.
Who may apply for the apostille
The Apostille Convention provides that the certificate is issued at the request of the person who signed the document or of any bearer. The service standard of the Ankara Governor’s Office, which asks only for the identity card of the person presenting the document and gives about ten minutes per document, is written for wet-signed, sealed administrative documents; this site’s survey found no comparable standard written for notarial acts. The Zile District Governor’s Office asks a third party for a notarised power of attorney before it accepts the application. Where someone other than the signatory will apply, the office’s rule should be checked beforehand.
Spelling and later changes in the power of attorney
When the power of attorney is drawn up, the name and surname should be spelled exactly as in the passport; that makes identification in the receiving country straightforward. If the wording has to change after the apostille has been issued, a new notarial act is drawn up and a new apostille is obtained for it, because an apostille covers only the document it was placed on. The translation, where one is needed, is made only once the final wording is settled and before the apostille on its notarial certification.