Sworn Translation in Ardahan

Where a pasture economy meets paperwork

Ardahan is a thinly populated province whose economy rests largely on livestock and dairy. The translation work that comes from it follows that shape: the volume is low, but the files that arrive cluster around a small set of recurring headings. As producers’ unions and small businesses try to sell beyond the province, and increasingly abroad, they run into requirements for certificates and contracts. A second strand grows out of sharing a border with Georgia: people with a business, a relative or property on the other side send their paperwork for translation on a regular basis. The third strand is the personal documents produced by seasonal and permanent migration. There is no sense in overstating Ardahan; demand here is sparse but steady.

Documents that come in often

On the production side we see veterinary health certificates, analysis reports for milk and dairy products, establishment registration and approval certificates, cooperative statutes and sale and purchase contracts. In these documents the batch details and the analysis values have to be carried across exactly; round a single value and the buyer’s acceptance process is thrown off. In cross-border matters it is civil registry records, title deeds, powers of attorney and court judgments that come to the fore. On the personal side there are criminal record certificates, diplomas, military status certificates and visa files. Most of these are prepared for a one-off procedure, which is why it matters that the right approval is in place at the first attempt.

Document	Who sends it
Veterinary health certificate	Livestock businesses and producers’ unions
Dairy analysis report	Small businesses selling abroad
Cooperative statutes and copies of resolutions	Joint ventures, applications for support
Title deeds and powers of attorney	Families with property across the border
Criminal record certificates and diplomas	Applications to work and study abroad

Why Georgian, Russian and Azerbaijani are asked for

Georgian here is the direct consequence of being neighbours: the notary, the land registry or the trade registry on the other side will only take up a text in its own language, so nothing begins without a Georgian version of the Turkish document. Russian has been the region’s shared language of commercial correspondence for many years; a great many companies across the Caucasus draw up their contracts in it, and plenty of older documents were issued in it as well. Azerbaijani appears along the trade route running eastwards, particularly in the buying and selling of livestock products and in company paperwork. What the three have in common is that each arises from the acceptance requirement of a particular authority. Per-page rates are gathered in a single list on the languages page.

Practical suggestions for the small-scale producer:

• Get it from the buyer in writing which documents are wanted and in which language; a list given verbally is usually incomplete.
• Before you have analysis reports translated, check that the batch numbers match the invoice.
• For contracts that recur, build a single template; there is no need to translate from scratch every time.
• Ask at the outset whether the notarisation and apostille steps are needed at all.

Getting a one-off procedure right the first time

Most of the files that reach us from Ardahan are prepared for something that will be done once: an inheritance matter, a work permit application, a first attempt at exporting. In work of that kind, putting right a document that carries the wrong approval is not merely an added cost; it means an application deadline lost. So before translation begins we try to establish where the document will be submitted and what form of approval that authority expects. Loading a needless notary’s fee onto a file for which a sworn translation would have been enough is just as much of a problem as sending an incomplete file where notarisation was required. If you have a question, asking it before you send the file is the cheapest step available to you.

Distance stops being the problem

Carrying documents back and forth between Ardahan and Ankara is the most expensive method anyone could devise. There is no such step with us: you upload the document from where you are, the price and the delivery date appear at once, the sworn signature and, where required, notarisation are completed at our office in Ankara Kızılay, the electronically signed copy is in your hands the same day and the wet-signed copy reaches your address by courier. We have no branch in Ardahan, and we do not claim to have one. You can begin by uploading your file to the quote form, and you can see the per-page rates in advance on the pricing page.

This page is for general information; our office is based in Ankara Kızılay and there are no branches in other provinces. Settling the form the authority requires at the outset spares you the work of doing it all again later.