This guide explains registration at a Turkish mission in Germany under Article 27/A of Law No. 5490, the German papers the commission asks for, when a recognition case before a Turkish family court is needed, and why orders on children, maintenance and pensions follow separate rules.
A divorce decided by a German family court ends the marriage under German law once the decision becomes final. It does not change the Turkish civil register by itself. Each Turkish citizen’s entry in the family register shows marital status and changes in personal status such as divorce (Population Services Law No. 5490, Article 7(1)(d) and (f)), and divorce is one of the population events the Law names (Article 3(1)(y)).
Lex Lata advises on Turkish law; a question of German family law belongs to a Rechtsanwalt in Germany.
Is a German divorce valid in Türkiye without a further step?
Not in the Turkish records. The German decision dissolves the marriage in Germany, but the Turkish civil register goes on showing the marriage until the divorce is entered. There are two routes: administrative registration at a Turkish mission in Germany or at a population directorate in Türkiye under Article 27/A of Law No. 5490, or a recognition case (tanıma davası) before a Turkish family court under Article 58 of Law No. 5718 on International Private and Procedural Law (MÖHUK). No treaty between Germany and Türkiye makes either step unnecessary.
Which German decision ends the marriage
German law allows a divorce in Germany only through a court: a marriage can be divorced only by a court decision on the application of one or both spouses, and it is dissolved when that decision becomes final (BGB § 1564). For marriages with a foreign element, EGBGB Article 17(3) repeats that in Germany a marriage can be divorced only by a court. That court is the family court (Familiengericht), a division of the local court, the Amtsgericht (GVG § 23b(1)). It decides by order, a Beschluss (FamFG § 116(1)), and final decisions in marriage matters take effect only when they become final (§ 116(2)).
Two German terms matter for the Turkish file:
- Finality (Rechtskraft). An appeal (Beschwerde) may be lodged within one month (FamFG § 63(1)), counted from written notification of the decision (§ 63(3)). The decision pronounced at the hearing is not yet the final one.
- The certificate of finality (Rechtskraftzeugnis, often called Rechtskraftvermerk). The court office issues it on the basis of the case file, and in marriage matters the parties receive it of the court’s own motion on a copy of the decision without reasons (FamFG § 46(1)).
Article 27/A(1) requires a decision that has become final in due form, and the Registration Regulation asks for a certified document showing finality where the decision carries no note of it (Article 7(1)(c)). A copy with the certificate of finality answers both points. Whether a German document shows finality is a German law question; settle it before translation.
Registration at a Turkish mission under Article 27/A
The four statutory conditions
Article 27/A was added to Law No. 5490 by Decree-Law No. 690 in 2017 and accepted as it stood by Law No. 7077 in 2018. It applies to decisions of foreign judicial or administrative authorities on divorce, nullity, annulment or whether a marriage exists, and has them entered in the civil register on four conditions:
- the parties apply together, in person or through agents, or, where one of them has died or is a foreigner, the other party who is a Turkish citizen, or that party’s agent, applies alone;
- a judicial or administrative authority competent on the subject under the laws of the issuing state gave the decision;
- it has become final in due form;
- it is not manifestly contrary to Turkish public order.
The procedure is in the Regulation on the Registration in the Civil Register of Decisions Given by Foreign Judicial or Administrative Authorities (Official Gazette, 7 February 2018, amended 30 August 2020), called the Registration Regulation below.
Which Turkish office takes the file
Article 27/A(2) gives registration abroad to the Turkish missions in the country where the decision was given, and the Regulation defines a mission as Türkiye’s embassy, consulate general or consular agency there (Article 4(1)(ç)). A German divorce is therefore filed in Germany, at the Embassy in Berlin or at a Turkish consulate general in Germany; ask the consulate serving your area how it takes in these files before sending originals. Inside Türkiye, the application goes to the provincial population directorate where either party is domiciled or, without a domicile in Türkiye, to one of eighteen listed directorates, among them Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Antalya and Konya (Registration Regulation Article 5).
Whose signature the mission needs
Take a woman in Cologne with Turkish and German citizenship, divorced by the Familiengericht in 2024. If her former husband is also Turkish, both must apply, though not side by side: separate applications are accepted if they are no more than ninety days apart (Registration Regulation Article 6(1)). If he holds German citizenship only, she may apply alone (Article 6(2)). Her German passport does not change her Turkish status: Law No. 5901 defines multiple citizenship as a Turkish citizen holding more than one citizenship at the same time (Article 3(1)(b)), and MÖHUK applies Turkish law to persons who are also Turkish citizens where the governing law depends on nationality (Article 4(1)(b)).
A German citizen who never held Turkish citizenship has no sole application, because the statute gives it only to the party who is a Turkish citizen. He can join a joint application, or his former wife can file alone; otherwise the court route below is open to him.
A person born Turkish who left Turkish citizenship with permission is treated as a foreigner from the date of loss (Law No. 5901, Article 27(1)) but keeps the rights of Turkish citizens with listed exceptions (Article 28(1)). Whether such a Blue Card holder can file alone under Article 27/A is a point to clear with the mission first.
If one former spouse has died, the surviving Turkish citizen may apply alone with the certified death document and its certified translation (Articles 6(2) and 7(1)(e)). If both died before anyone applied, persons with a legal interest may apply, except for divorces made by a unilateral declaration of will (Article 6(3)). A legal representative or an agent may file (Article 6(1)).
How the commission decides
A commission formed at the mission or directorate examines whether the decision can be registered and decides by a majority of those attending (Registration Regulation Articles 8, 9(2) and 9(4)), meeting within fifteen days at the latest when files are on its agenda (Article 9(3)). An incomplete file gets ninety days for the missing papers before rejection (Article 7(4)). A pending or dismissed Turkish case about the same decision leads to rejection (Article 9(6)), and a decision manifestly contrary to Turkish public order is rejected with reasons (Article 9(7)). After a decision to register, the divorce is entered within seven days (Article 10(1)). Neither Article 27/A nor the Regulation sets a deadline for applying.
Preparing the German papers for a Turkish commission
The commission works from Article 7 of the Registration Regulation:
- The application form (Article 7(1)(a)).
- The decision. The duly certified original and its Turkish translation (Article 7(1)(b)). From Germany this is the court’s Ausfertigung of the Familiengericht decision, preferably the copy bearing the certificate of finality.
- Proof of finality. Where the decision carries no note of finality, a certified document showing that it became final under German law, translated and certified in the same way (Article 7(1)(c)).
- The apostille. The Apostille Convention entered into force for Germany on 13 February 1966 and for Türkiye on 29 September 1985. Each Land sets the issuing authority; for documents of the ordinary courts, which include the family courts, HCCH lists the Land ministry of justice or the president of the Landgericht or Amtsgericht.
- The translation. Certified by a notary or a Turkish mission, or apostilled by the competent authority of the country concerned (Article 7(1)(b)).
- Identity. Copies of identity cards or passports and, where one party is a foreigner, notarised Turkish translations of them (Article 7(1)(ç)).
- An agent’s authority. A special power of attorney with a photograph drawn up by a notary, in the original or a certified copy (Article 7(1)(d)). Our guide to power of attorney and apostille from Germany for Türkiye compares the Turkish consulate with a German notary.
- Turkish court status. Details of any Turkish case about the decision or a document confirming that none is pending and that recognition has not been refused before (Article 7(2)).
Check the marriage record too. A marriage of Turkish citizens before a German Standesamt is valid if it complies with the Turkish Civil Code and no ground of nullity exists, and the certificate is to be handed in at the Turkish mission within thirty days at the latest (Law No. 5490, Article 24(1)). A marriage at a Turkish consulate is different: the 1929 Consular Convention allows consuls to marry two nationals of their own state where their state’s law authorises it (Article 18), and missions report such marriages to the population directorate within thirty days (Law No. 5490, Article 23(3)).
What the 1929 Turkish-German agreements cover, and what they do not
Of the agreements signed in Ankara on 28 May 1929, two were approved by Turkish statute and concern families: the convention on legal relations in civil and commercial matters, approved by Law No. 1622 (Official Gazette, 4 June 1930, No. 1511), and the Consular Convention with its estate annex, approved by Law No. 1634 (Official Gazette, 8 June 1930, No. 1514). MÖHUK keeps treaty provisions binding on Türkiye in force (Article 1(2)).
The 1622 convention covers equal access to the courts for each state’s nationals (Article 1); no security for costs demanded of a national domiciled in either state on the ground of being a foreigner (Article 2); free enforcement of orders on fees and costs against a claimant exempted from security (Articles 3 and 4); legal aid on the same terms as nationals (Articles 5 to 8); and service of documents and letters of request through the consulate (Articles 9 to 16), with direct service by consular agents on their own nationals without compulsion (Article 17).
It has no rule on recognising or enforcing judgments in general, and nothing in it deals with divorce. The Consular Convention covers consular marriages (Article 18) and estates, not divorce decisions. Nor does a multilateral treaty fill the gap: HCCH lists neither Germany nor Türkiye as a party to the 1970 Hague Convention on the Recognition of Divorces and Legal Separations. Recognition of the divorce therefore rests on Article 27/A and MÖHUK.
When only a Turkish court can help
Registration at a mission will not finish the file where:
- the commission refused registration, in which case Article 27/A(3) of Law No. 5490 and Article 11 of the Registration Regulation send the matter to recognition under MÖHUK before the family court;
- both former spouses are Turkish citizens and one refuses to apply or cannot be found;
- the former spouse disputes the German decision, for example saying the divorce application never reached them;
- orders on children, maintenance or property have to take effect in Türkiye.
The court. Family courts hear the recognition and enforcement of foreign decisions on family law (Law No. 4787, Article 4, item 2). The item still names Law No. 2675, which MÖHUK Article 64(1) repealed. Where no family court exists, the civil court of first instance designated by the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors, as the Law names it, hears these cases (Law No. 4787, Article 2).
What recognition requires. A foreign judgment is accepted as conclusive evidence or res judicata once the court finds that it meets the enforcement conditions, and the reciprocity condition of Article 54(1)(a) is not applied to recognition (MÖHUK Article 58(1)). Under Article 54(1)(b), the decision must concern a matter outside the exclusive jurisdiction of Turkish courts or, on the respondent’s objection, must not come from a court of a state that assumed jurisdiction without a real connection to the subject or the parties. Under (c), it must not be manifestly contrary to public order. Under (ç), it fails where, under the law of the place of decision, the person against whom it is invoked was not duly summoned, was not represented, or was judged in default or absence contrary to that law, and that person objects on one of those grounds.
Procedure. Article 58 sets no venue or filing rules of its own; those are written for enforcement: the respondent’s domicile in Türkiye, otherwise residence, otherwise Ankara, Istanbul or Izmir (Article 51(2)); a petition identifying the German decision (Article 52) with the certified decision, proof of finality and translations attached (Article 53); service with the hearing date and the simple procedure (Article 55(1)). The same procedure applies where a Turkish administrative step rests on a foreign judgment (Article 58(3)), and the recognised decision takes effect from the moment it became final (Article 59).
Children, maintenance and pensions: orders the mission cannot register
A German court decides the divorce together with the consequential matters (Folgesachen) (FamFG § 137(1)). Where brought no later than two weeks before the first-instance hearing, they include the pension adjustment (Versorgungsausgleich), certain maintenance matters, the marital home and household, and matrimonial property; in the cases the statute lists, the pension adjustment needs no application (§ 137(2)). Custody and contact are joined if a spouse asks, unless the court finds this not in the child’s interest (§ 137(3)). The Turkish commission decides such a decision only as to the divorce. Its decision produces no result for provisions subject to enforcement, such as custody, child maintenance, contact, matrimonial property and compensation, and a recognition or enforcement case may be brought for those before the competent Turkish court (Registration Regulation Article 9(5)).
Treaties come first (MÖHUK Article 1(2)):
- The 1996 Hague Child Protection Convention. In force for Germany since 1 January 2011 and for Türkiye since 1 February 2017. It covers rights of custody and access (Article 3(b)) but not maintenance (Article 4(e)). Measures taken in one Contracting State are recognised by operation of law in the others (Article 23(1)), subject to the refusal grounds in Article 23(2), among them recognition manifestly contrary to public policy taking into account the child’s best interests (Article 23(2)(d)). Any interested person may ask for a decision on recognition (Article 24); enforcement needs a declaration of enforceability or registration (Article 26). Between the two states this covers measures taken after 1 February 2017 (Article 53(2)).
- The 2007 Hague Child Support Convention. Germany is bound through the European Union’s approval from 1 August 2014, Türkiye since 1 February 2017. It applies to maintenance from a parent-child relationship towards a person under 21 and, with limits, to spousal support (Article 2(1)), and its recognition chapter covers maintenance decisions including settlements approved by an authority (Article 19(1)). HCCH records a declaration by Türkiye under Article 24, which lets a state choose the alternative procedure set out there.
The pension adjustment and matrimonial property orders are not maintenance under the 2007 Convention. For them MÖHUK applies in full, and enforcement adds the reciprocity condition of Article 54(1)(a): an agreement based on reciprocity, or a statutory provision or actual practice in Germany allowing Turkish judgments to be enforced. The 1622 convention is not such a general agreement. See enforcing a German court judgment in Türkiye for the reciprocity question.
Registration, recognition and enforcement compared
| Registration under Article 27/A | Recognition case (MÖHUK Art. 58) | Enforcement case (MÖHUK Arts. 50-57) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Divorce entered in the Turkish civil register | German decision accepted as res judicata or conclusive evidence | German order made executable in Türkiye |
| Who applies | Both parties, or the Turkish citizen alone where the other is a foreigner or has died | Not named in Art. 58 | Anyone with a legal interest (Art. 52(1)) |
| Where | Turkish mission in Germany, or a directorate in Türkiye | Family court (Law 4787 Art. 4) | Family court for family-law decisions (Law 4787 Art. 4) |
| What is checked | Competent authority, finality in due form, public order | Art. 54(1)(b), (c) and (ç) | Art. 54(1)(a) to (ç) |
| Reciprocity | Not a condition | Not applied (Art. 58(1)) | Required (Art. 54(1)(a)) unless a treaty applies |
| Not covered | Custody, maintenance, property (Regulation Art. 9(5)) | Execution of money orders | Not needed for the divorce entry; recognition is enough (Implementing Regulation Art. 27(1)) |
What changes once the divorce is on the Turkish record
Remarriage. Anyone who wants to marry again must prove that the earlier marriage has ended (Turkish Civil Code, TMK, Article 130), and a marriage concluded while one spouse is still married is absolutely void (TMK Article 145, item 1). Until the German decision is entered, the register shows the woman from Cologne as married, and Article 130 puts the burden on her.
The divorce date. When a foreign divorce is recognised or registered under Article 27/A, the date the German decision became final is entered as the divorce date (Population Services Implementing Regulation, Article 27(1)).
Waiting period. A woman whose marriage has ended may not marry until three hundred days have passed; birth ends the period, and the court lifts it where she is shown not to be pregnant from the earlier marriage or the former spouses wish to remarry each other (TMK Article 132). It runs from the finality of the divorce decision (Law No. 5490 Article 26; Implementing Regulation Article 23(1)), marriage offices disregard it for a foreign woman whose national law has none (Article 23(2)), and a marriage concluded before it ends is not void for that reason (TMK Article 154).
Surname. A divorced woman takes back her pre-marriage surname, and the judge allows her to keep her former husband’s surname on request if she shows an interest and that it will not harm him (TMK Article 173). Her entry in the husband’s household is closed and reopened where she was registered before (Implementing Regulation Article 28(1)).
Inheritance. Divorced spouses cannot, as such, be each other’s statutory heirs, and each loses what a disposition upon death made before the divorce gave them, unless it shows otherwise (TMK Article 181(1)). Since MÖHUK Article 59 ties the res judicata effect of a recognised foreign judgment to the moment it became final, that effect runs from the German finality date even where recognition comes after a former spouse has died. For estates with property in Türkiye, see inheriting property in Türkiye as an heir in Germany.
Working on a German divorce file with Lex Lata from Germany
Lex Lata acts for clients in Germany in Turkish registration files and in recognition and enforcement cases concerning German divorce decisions and the orders that come with them. The work is done remotely, in English or Turkish. We check the decision, the certificate of finality and the apostille before anything is translated, prepare the application for the mission or the petition to the family court, and act in court under a power of attorney signed at a Turkish consulate in Germany or before a German notary with an apostille. Istanbul is one hour ahead of Germany in summer and two in winter. German family law questions stay with your Rechtsanwalt; we work alongside them. Divorce, custody and maintenance proceedings in Türkiye itself are covered on our family law and divorce page; other matters from Germany are described in a lawyer in Türkiye for clients in Germany; our court work is on the foreign judgments practice page; and you can write to us through the contact page.
