Notarisation and Apostille 5 August 2026
The translation requirement in the recognition and enforcement of a foreign court judgment
In having a divorce judgment given abroad recognised in Türkiye, translation is one of the first and most critical steps in the process.
For a court judgment given abroad to take effect in Türkiye, a recognition and enforcement procedure is followed. The most common example is a divorce judgment obtained in a foreign country being made valid in Türkiye.
The judgment is first brought into Turkish by translation
Before a court judgment in a foreign language can be used in proceedings in Türkiye, it has to be translated into Turkish by sworn translation. Alongside the judgment itself, supporting documents such as the annotation of finality and, where there is one, the apostille are included in the translation. Depending on whether the country where the judgment was issued is a party to the Hague Convention, the route may be apostille or consular legalisation; this needs to be confirmed document by document.
Translation is only one part of the legal process
Recognition and enforcement is a legal process that includes a court stage and does not consist of translation alone. Translation is a necessary step if that process is to run properly, but the process as a whole has a lawyer and a court dimension. This article is for general information; every case is different, and confirmation from current official sources and a legal specialist is essential.
The most common hold-up is the judgment being translated without its annotation of finality or its apostille, leaving the file incomplete. Preparing the document as a complete set from the outset makes the process easier. At our office we prepare translations of foreign court judgments together with their annotations.