An “Article 12 objection” is the act by which a contracting state, within six months, opposes the accession of a state that joins the Convention later. The objection does not affect the Convention as a whole; it only prevents the Convention from entering into force between the objecting state and the acceding state. The term describes the situations in which “does this country apply the Convention” is not enough as a question: both countries may apply it and the Convention may still not operate between them.
An objection targets an accession, not a ratification
The Convention provides two ways in. States represented at the Hague Conference in 1961 sign and ratify (Articles 10 and 11); other states accede later (Article 12). The objection is tied to the second way only. Türkiye signed the Convention on 8 May 1962 and joined it by ratification, so no state ever had the opportunity to object to Türkiye. The full status report of the Hague Conference records no objection and no declaration made by Türkiye either.
Six months, then a bilateral gap
Under the second paragraph of Article 12, an accession has effect only as regards the relations between the acceding state and those contracting states which have not raised an objection within six months after receiving notification of it. When the six months expire, the Convention enters into force with every state that stayed silent and does not enter into force with a state that objected. An objection can be withdrawn later; from which date the withdrawal takes effect is read in the HCCH report.
Why no objection concerns a Turkish document
Türkiye has objected to none of the later accessions. The concrete consequence is that the Convention operates between Türkiye and every newly acceding state automatically once the six months have passed. Kosovo is an example: the HCCH note lists more than thirty states between which and Kosovo the Convention has not entered into force because of objections or declarations, Türkiye is not among them, and Kosovo appears both in the list annexed to the Ministry of Justice circular and in the country list of the official e-Apostil system. For a Turkish document the question is twofold: does the destination apply the Convention, and is there an objection between it and Türkiye. The second answer, for Türkiye, is always no.
Recent objections on the HCCH record
According to the HCCH record eight states objected to the accession of Pakistan and twelve to that of Bangladesh; Austria, Greece and Germany objected to Algeria’s, and Czechia, Austria and Germany to Vietnam’s. None of these touches a Turkish document, but they matter when a third-country document travels through Türkiye to another state: if an objection stands between the state of origin and the destination, the apostille does not work in that relationship.
What an objection means for the document holder
Where an objection stands between two states, the apostille has no effect in that relationship and the document falls back on the legalisation chain: translation, notary, certification by the relevant authority and consular certification. For Turkish documents that situation has never arisen; the country pages of this site show each country’s objection record from this site’s country data. For the translation the only difference is that on the legalisation route the translation moves to the head of the chain.