A document downloaded from e-Devlet, the Turkish e-government portal, can be checked inside Türkiye through its barcode, which leads to the electronic original. The same printout taken to the apostille counter for use abroad stays on the desk. This page describes how the refusal looks, why it happens and the three repair routes, which differ by document. The general rule on barcode printouts is set out on the e-Devlet document page of this site; here only the moment of refusal and the way out are covered.
What the clerk says about the printout
At the kaymakamlık (district governor’s office) or valilik (provincial governor’s office), a printout that carries no handwritten signature is not apostilled. Some district offices have written this on their pages: the Develi District Governor’s Office states that it does not certify criminal record extracts or judicial documents obtained from the prosecutor’s office or from e-Devlet. A foreign authority may also return the document because an apostille is missing or the document cannot be verified. In every case the sheet carries no signature that an apostille authority could attest.
A barcode is not a signature
Under article 5 of the Apostille Convention the certificate attests a signature, the capacity of the signatory and the seal. The barcode or QR code on an e-Devlet printout is a link to the electronic original held by the issuing body; the paper carries no handwritten signature, and under article 5 of the Convention a signature is what an apostille attests. The Onikişubat District Governor’s Office resolves the question in two sentences: the printout of an e-signed document can be considered for an apostille only if the issuing body’s official has physically certified it with name, title, handwritten signature and seal, and in that case what the apostille attests is not the barcode but the signature and capacity of the certifying official. The printout is therefore not refused arbitrarily; there is simply nothing on it to attest.
Three routes, chosen by document type
The first route is e-Apostil, the official Turkish electronic apostille system run by the ministries of Justice and Interior through PTT, the national postal operator. It is open for six document types only: the criminal record extract, court judgments, the civil registry extract (nüfus kayıt örneği) and the multilingual birth, marriage and death extracts. The application is made by the document holder from their own e-Devlet account; login details are personal and this site never asks for them at any stage. The route has one further limit: according to the official system’s own interface text, the e-Apostil application for the civil registry extract is open to Turkish citizens only, and foreign nationals are directed to the paper apostille. The second route is a signed and sealed copy from the issuing body: if the civil registry office, school or hospital certifies the printout with its official’s handwritten signature, the document becomes an administrative document and is apostilled at the provincial or district governor’s office. The third route is a notary’s true-copy certification; the apostille is then placed on the notary’s signature, and the apostille of a notarial act is issued by the governor of any province or district. For the criminal record extract the second and third routes are closed in practice: the original of a judicial document is apostilled by the adli yargı adalet komisyonu (the judicial commission at courthouses with a high criminal court), and for the e-Devlet version there is e-Apostil.
Repairing a returned e-Devlet file
The first check on a returned file is the document type. If it is one of the six types and the holder is a Turkish citizen, the shortest route is e-Apostil; the receiving authority is asked in what form it will accept the electronic file. If the document is outside the list, a residence certificate or a student certificate for instance, a signed and sealed copy is requested from the issuing body and taken to the provincial or district governor’s office. If the body does not issue such copies, the notary route remains. Whether an institution is willing to certify an e-signed printout differs from institution to institution; this site’s survey found no binding general regulation on the point.
Translation after the new printout
The translation is made from the apostilled version: the issuing body’s certification note, the notary’s true-copy note where there is one, and the apostille certificate are all included. An earlier translation of the bare barcode printout does not match the new version, since it contains neither the certification nor the apostille, and it is made again from the new document. On the e-Apostil route, how the electronic document is translated, from a printout or from the file, is not stated in the sources read for this site and is asked of the receiving authority; if that authority also wants an apostille on the translation, that second certificate is placed on the notarial certification and obtained from a provincial or district governor’s office.