This guide compares signing at a Turkish consulate general in Germany with signing before a German notary and obtaining an apostille, and explains translation, the powers Turkish law wants spelled out, what the 1929 Turkish-German agreements add, and revocation.
From Germany you can give a power of attorney for Türkiye in one of two ways: sign it at a Turkish consulate general in Germany, where it needs no apostille, or sign it before a German notary (Notar) and have the competent German authority add an apostille. Either way, if the agent will sell or transfer land, the power must say so expressly (Turkish Code of Obligations, Law No. 6098, Article 504(3)).
Three files from Germany show why the form matters. A retired couple in Stuttgart want to sell their flat in Alanya. Two siblings in Hanover, both Turkish and German citizens, have to deal with their late mother’s house in Trabzon. A GmbH in Hamburg wants a lawyer in Istanbul to sue a Turkish buyer over unpaid invoices. In each case someone in Türkiye has to act under a power of attorney (vekâletname) that the receiving office will accept. The two states also signed agreements in Ankara on 28 May 1929; they may matter in a lawsuit, but they do not change the form of a power, as explained below.
How do I give a power of attorney from Germany for use in Turkey, and does it need an apostille?
At a Turkish consulate general the consul draws the power up in Turkish as a Turkish notarial act, because notarial work abroad is done by consuls (Notaries Act No. 1512, Article 191) inside the consulate building (Article 192); it goes to Türkiye without an apostille or a translation. A power signed before a German notary needs the apostille of the competent German authority and, once in Türkiye, a Turkish translation; no further certificate from a Turkish consulate is needed, because HMK Article 224(2) reserves the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention, in force for Germany since 13 February 1966 and for Türkiye since 29 September 1985. For a land registry transaction, check the form with the registry through your lawyer before you choose the German notary route.
Start with the Turkish office that will read the power
- The land registry (tapu müdürlüğü). Powers of attorney that by their nature call for a land registry transaction are drawn up by the notary in full (Notaries Act Article 89), not merely signature-certified. The registry asks for a power drawn up under Law No. 1512 that authorises the transaction requested and bears the principal’s signature, and compares the principal with the registered owner (Land Registry Regulation, Tapu Sicili Tüzüğü, Article 18(4)).
- A court or enforcement office. The lawyer files the original power, certified or drawn up by a notary, or a copy the lawyer has certified against the original (HMK Article 76(1)). A properly drawn-up power is one of the procedural conditions a court checks when a party litigates through an agent (HMK Article 114(1)(f)).
- An estate. The heirs’ certificate, the registration of the heirs and any later sale each need authority in the power. The guide on inheriting property in Türkiye as an heir in Germany follows that path step by step.
Signing at a Turkish consulate general in Germany
Turkish law treats a consul abroad as the notary (Notaries Act Articles 191 and 192). The parts of the Act that bind consuls include Article 74 on interpreters and Articles 78 to 108 on drawn-up and certified acts (Article 193), so a consul can produce the full notarial act that Article 89 asks for in property matters. The original stays at the consulate and you receive a copy (Article 84). A consular power never goes to an apostille office: Article 1 of the Apostille Convention leaves documents executed by diplomatic or consular agents outside its scope.
Where the consulates general are
A postal address list published by the Turkish Ministry of Justice’s Directorate General for Foreign Relations and EU Affairs gives Turkish consulates general in thirteen German cities: Berlin, Düsseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Karlsruhe, Cologne (with an address in Hürth), Mainz, Munich, Münster, Nuremberg and Stuttgart. The list carries a 2017 update date and sets out each district by postcode, so confirm the consulate for your address before you travel.
What to prepare for the appointment
Ask the consulate which identity documents it needs; requirements differ between posts. Have ready:
- the agent’s full name and identity details as they appear in Turkish records;
- for a property power, the registry details of the property (province, district, neighbourhood or village, block and parcel, and for a flat the independent unit number), taken from the title record;
- for a power to a lawyer, the lawyer’s full name and bar association;
- the text agreed with your lawyer in Türkiye.
If you do not know Turkish, a sworn interpreter attends (Notaries Act Articles 74 and 193).
If you are not a Turkish citizen
Article 16 of the 1929 Turkish-German Consular Convention, approved by Türkiye by Law No. 1634, lists the acts consuls may perform within the authority their own country’s laws give them. Point 5 covers drawing up and certifying contracts and documents of every kind, whatever the nationality of the persons concerned, provided they relate only to property in the consul’s own country or to matters to be pursued or carried out there. A power for a flat in Alanya fits that description. Published consular practice on powers given by foreign nationals varies, however, and some posts limit it to particular transactions. Ask the consulate before booking; if it will not act, the German notary route below is open to everyone.
Signing before a German notary, then the apostille
Certification of a signature or a full deed
A German notary can certify your signature on a text you bring, or record your declaration in a full deed (Niederschrift). For certification, the Beurkundungsgesetz provides that a signature should be certified only if it is made or acknowledged in the notary’s presence (section 40(1)). Where the notary records a full deed and a party does not sufficiently understand the language of the deed, the notary notes this, and the deed is translated for that party instead of being read aloud (section 16(1) and (2)). Which of the two your file needs depends on the Turkish office; for the land registry, see below.
Who issues the apostille in Germany
Germany has no single apostille office for notarial deeds. The Hague Conference’s competent-authority page for Germany lists, for documents of judicial administration, the ordinary civil and criminal courts and notaries, the Land Ministry (or Senator) of Justice or the president of the Landgericht or Amtsgericht. For the eastern Länder (Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia) it names the justice ministries and the presidents of the Landgerichte. Under Baden-Württemberg’s declaration of 2 August 2004, the president of a Landgericht handles documents of notaries. The notary will normally know which office serves the district.
What the apostille does, and why no Turkish consular step is added
The apostille certifies that the signature is genuine, the capacity in which the signer acted and, where there is one, whose seal or stamp the document bears (Articles 3 and 5); it is placed on the document or on an attached allonge (Article 4). Whether the text gives the agent enough authority stays a question of Turkish law. Notaries Act Article 195 has the consul certify a foreign authority’s signature and seal on a notarial act done abroad, with special statutory rules reserved, and HMK Article 224 reserves treaty rules on certifying foreign official documents. Under the Convention notarial acts are public documents (Article 1(c)), each state party exempts them from legalisation, and the apostille is the only formality that may be required (Articles 2 and 3).
The land registry question
The Land Registry Regulation asks for a power drawn up under Law No. 1512 (Article 18(4)), and under Article 18(8) the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre decides which documents are used in land registry and cadastre transactions by foreign nationals and by commercial companies set up abroad under their own country’s law. Before a German notary prepares a power for a sale or purchase, ask the land registry office where the property is registered, through your lawyer in Türkiye, which form it will accept.
What the 1929 Turkish-German agreements change, and what they do not
On 28 May 1929 the two states signed, among others, a Convention on legal relations in civil and commercial matters, which Türkiye approved by Law No. 1622, and a Consular Convention with an estate annex, approved by Law No. 1634. The Turkish code on private international law (MÖHUK, Law No. 5718) reserves in Article 1(2) the provisions of treaties to which Türkiye is a party.
The 1929 Convention on legal relations covers access to the courts (Article 1), security for costs (Article 2), costs orders (Articles 3 and 4), legal aid (Articles 5 to 8), and service and letters of request (Articles 9 onwards). Its certification rules concern specific court papers only: the statement and translation used to enforce a costs order (Article 4(2) and (3)), the translation attached to a request for service (Article 9(1)) and a certificate of poverty, certified free of charge by the diplomatic or consular officer of the state where it is to be produced (Article 6(2)). It contains no rule exempting powers of attorney or notarial deeds from certification. For a power signed before a German notary, the apostille is still the step.
Where the 1929 Convention applies, its effect is on the lawsuit that may follow. Foreign claimants in Türkiye must give security for costs (MÖHUK Article 48(1)), and the court exempts them on the basis of reciprocity (Article 48(2)). Article 2 of the 1929 Convention adds that a national of either state, domiciled in one of them, may not be required to give security or a deposit on the ground of being a foreigner or having no domicile in the forum state. Whether the Convention is applied to a particular claimant is checked before filing, together with MÖHUK Article 1(2).
The two routes side by side
| Point | Turkish consulate general in Germany | German notary, then apostille |
|---|---|---|
| What the document is | A Turkish notarial act (Notaries Act Articles 191 to 193) | A German public document with an apostille (Apostille Convention Articles 1(c), 3 and 5) |
| Where you sign | Inside the consulate building, by appointment (Article 192) | At a notary’s office near you |
| Apostille | Not applicable to consular documents (Convention Article 1) | Issued by the Land authority for notarial documents |
| Language | Turkish, with a sworn interpreter if the signer does not know Turkish (Article 74) | German, or another language on request (BeurkG section 5) |
| Translation | Not needed for the power itself | The power, the notary’s certificate and the apostille are translated into Turkish |
| Land registry powers | Can be drawn up in the full form Article 89 requires | Ask the land registry office first (Land Registry Regulation Article 18(8)) |
| Signer without Turkish citizenship | Ask the consulate; practice varies | Open to everyone |
| What you hold afterwards | A copy of the drawn-up act; the original stays at the consulate (Article 84) | The signed document with the apostille on it or on an allonge (Convention Article 4) |
The powers Turkish law wants spelled out
The wording matters more than the route. Under TBK Article 504(3), an agent who is not specially authorised may not sue, settle, refer a dispute to arbitration, request bankruptcy, postponement of bankruptcy or concordat, enter into bills of exchange obligations, make a gift, stand surety, transfer an immovable or encumber it with a right. A power “to manage my affairs in Türkiye” does not let the agent sell your flat.
For a lawsuit, authority covers all steps until the judgment is final, enforcement and collection of costs, with acts needing special authority reserved (HMK Article 73(1)). HMK Article 74(1) lists those acts: among them settling, challenging a judge, amending the whole claim, appointing another lawyer, lifting an attachment, entering into an arbitration agreement, using alternative dispute resolution, waiving the claim or an appeal, and releasing the other side or accepting its claim. If the lawyer should be able to bring in a colleague, say so; the Attorneys Act lets a lawyer whose power includes authority to appoint another lawyer run the case with or through that lawyer (Law No. 1136, Article 171, second paragraph).
Copies the lawyer certifies count as official copies for all courts, offices and persons (Attorneys Act Article 56). Where waiting could cause harm, HMK Article 77(1) lets the court allow the lawyer to file first, provided the power follows within a final deadline the court fixes; if neither the power nor the party’s written approval of the steps arrives in time, the case is treated as not filed.
Three files from Germany
The Stuttgart couple selling their flat in Alanya
Both spouses are registered owners, and the registry compares the registered owner with the principal named in the power (Land Registry Regulation Article 18(4)), so each of them has to authorise the sale of his or her own share. The power names the flat by its registry details and authorises the sale, signing the official deed, receiving the price into a named account and paying the transfer costs (TBK Article 504(3)). If a substitute may act, say so; the registry then also asks for the power that gave the right to appoint (Article 18(4)). The guide on reading a tapu record shows where each registry detail appears.
If both are Turkish citizens, the Stuttgart consulate general can draw up the power in full form; if they are German citizens only, they ask the consulate first and, if it declines, the land registry office which form it will accept from a German notary.
Two siblings in Hanover and their mother’s house in Trabzon
Each sibling signs a power that names three tasks: applying for the certificate of inheritance, having the heirs registered at the land registry, and carrying out whatever sale or division they later agree. A power their mother once gave a cousin will not help, because her death ended that authority as a rule (TBK Articles 43 and 513(1)). Which law governs the house, and how the heirs’ certificate is obtained, is covered in the inheritance guide for heirs in Germany.
A Hamburg GmbH suing a Turkish buyer
The managing directors sign the power before a Hamburg notary, and the apostille is added by the competent Hamburg authority. A Turkish court checks that the lawyer holds a duly drawn-up power (HMK Article 114(1)(f)), so the file should also show that the signatories can bind the company. In Germany the commercial register is kept by the courts (HGB section 8(1)); discuss with the notary how an extract can be apostilled and translated with the power. The text should give the special authority the claim may need, such as settlement, arbitration and appointing another lawyer (HMK Article 74(1)). Whether security for costs applies to a German company, and on what basis, is checked before filing (MÖHUK Article 48). The guide for German sellers recovering unpaid invoices looks at the claim itself, and a German judgment already obtained is a matter for enforcing a German court judgment in Turkey.
Bilingual powers and translation in Türkiye
A German notary makes deeds in German, but on request may draw up a deed in another language if the notary has sufficient command of it (BeurkG section 5). Whether yours will prepare a German and Turkish text side by side is the notary’s decision.
HMK Article 223 puts the translation burden on the party relying on a foreign-language document and lets the court ask for an official translation, of its own motion or at the other side’s request. Turkish notaries translate documents (Notaries Act Article 60(6)) and add a note under the translated text; where a sworn translator was used, the note gives that translator’s identity and address (Article 103). If the translation cannot be done at the notary’s own office, it may be arranged through that office at a notary elsewhere (Article 104).
For an apostilled power, have everything on the pages translated: the power, the notary’s certificate and the apostille. A consular power is already in Turkish.
Turkish citizens, dual citizens and Blue Card holders
Use the name and identity number shown in the Turkish civil register on the power. Where the right holder applying at the land registry is a natural person, the registry asks for an identity card bearing the Turkish identity number and compares its details with the civil registry details in the documents on which the registration rests (Land Registry Regulation Article 18(2)), and it makes the same comparison between the registered owner and the principal in a power (Article 18(4)).
If you were born Turkish and left Turkish citizenship with permission, you and your descendants up to the third degree keep the rights of Turkish citizens, apart from the exceptions in the article (Citizenship Law No. 5901, Article 28(1)). On request you receive a Blue Card showing those rights (Article 28(6)), and the identity number assigned to you is used wherever a Turkish identity number is required (Article 28(8)). Ask the consulate which identity document it will accept for your appointment, particularly for a property power.
Revoking the power later
TBK Article 42 lets you narrow or take back the authority whenever you wish; waiving that right in advance is not possible. When the authority ends, the agent must return the document or leave it where the court directs (TBK Article 44).
At the consulate, you sign a revocation (azilname); bring the name of the notary office that drew up the power and the power’s date and journal number. From a German notary, you sign a revocation, obtain the apostille, and have it translated and served in Türkiye through a Turkish notary, since sending notices is part of a notary’s work (Notaries Act Article 60(7)).
Then tell everyone who saw the power. If you told third parties about the authority, its withdrawal cannot be raised against those in good faith until you tell them (TBK Article 42). Acts the agent performs before learning that the authority has ended bind you, unless the third party knew it had ended (TBK Article 45), and you answer for the agent’s acts done before he or she learned that the mandate ended as though it had continued (TBK Article 514).
Working on a Turkish matter with Lex Lata from Germany
Lex Lata’s advice is limited to Turkish law; anything turning on German law should go to an adviser qualified there. Files are handled remotely, with correspondence in English or Turkish. Türkiye stays on UTC+3 all year, so Germany is one hour behind Istanbul in summer and two hours behind in winter.
In practice Lex Lata drafts the Turkish wording first and sends a working version for the client to read before the appointment. For the German notary route, it reviews the translated, apostilled set once the original reaches Istanbul. The guide for clients in Germany with a legal matter in Türkiye sets out the other areas, the guide on recognition of a German divorce in Turkey covers family records, and the contact page is the way to reach Lex Lata.
