A translation made before the apostille cannot contain the certificate, since the certificate did not yet exist. Whether that matters is not settled by any general rule in the sources this site surveyed: the Convention prescribes the form of the certificate, not its translation, and the authority receiving the document decides whether it wants the certificate rendered. This page sets out what is known about the two orders and what to ask before the translation starts.
What a translation made first does not show
The original carries the apostille certificate; a translation made before it has no counterpart for it. When the date of the certificate is later than the date of the translation, the file itself shows that the translation was not made from the apostilled copy. Whether a receiving office treats that as a gap or accepts the translation as it stands is its own decision; this site found no official text requiring the certificate to be translated.
The certificate is part of the document
The apostille certificate is not a loose sheet; it is a standard form with numbered fields attached to the document. Article 4 of the Convention requires its heading to be in French, “Apostille (Convention de La Haye du 5 octobre 1961)”, and the annex prescribes a square of at least nine centimetres a side. The Convention says nothing about translating it. When the translation is made first, the translator has no certificate in front of them and none appears in the translation; if the receiving office wants the certificate rendered, the order has to be arranged so that the certificate exists before the translation is made.
Two orders, each correct in its own case
The root of the mix-up is that the chain described by the Onikişubat office runs the other way round. In the order given by the Onikişubat District Governor’s Office the translation comes first: the yeminli tercüman (a sworn translator whose oath is recorded at a Turkish notary) translates, the notary in the place where the translation was made certifies it, and the file then goes to the valilik or kaymakamlık (provincial or district governor’s office) for the apostille; in this chain the apostille attests the notary’s certifying signature. Here the apostille sits on the translation and the question of translating the certificate never arises, because the certificate is the last link. The other order applies when the receiving authority wants the apostille on the original: the German missions in Türkiye ask for the civil registry extract with an apostille and a translation by a sworn translator, so the apostille goes on the original and the sworn translation comes after it. France presents a third case: service-public.fr states that the French translation of a foreign public document is made by an authorised translator before the legalisation steps begin, and that a translation to be apostilled has to be made by a sworn translator, have its signature certified and be presented with the original. Which order is right is decided by the institution receiving the document, not by the Turkish office.
When the receiving office wants the certificate translated
The apostille is not obtained again; what changes is the translation. If the office asks for the certificate to be rendered, the apostilled document is translated again together with the certificate, and the translation is certified by a notary. How the fields and the French heading are laid out in the translation is not fixed by any official source found in this site’s survey; the receiving office can be asked. If the receiving office also wants an apostille on the translation, that second certificate is placed on the notarial certification and obtained from any provincial or district governor’s office. Before the new translation starts, the office is asked to state the required order and scope in writing.
Translations made in Türkiye: what Germany and France have not said
Whether German authorities accept a translation made in Türkiye, notarised and apostilled there, as a translation by a sworn translator is not stated on the missions’ page, and the practice of individual Standesämter (civil registry offices) was not surveyed. Whether French authorities accept a translation made in Türkiye could not be confirmed from an official source in this site’s survey. For these two countries this site contains no sentence saying “it will be accepted”.
The translator sees the apostilled copy first
Where the receiving office wants the certificate in the translation, the translation stands at the end of the chain: the translator starts from the apostilled version, and the authority name, serial number and date in the certificate are carried into the translation exactly. A translation made before the apostille is the case where the receiving office wants the apostille on the translation or has asked in writing for the translation to come first; the order follows the request, not habit.