Divorce in Turkey for foreigners: jurisdiction, applicable law, documents, and recognition of a foreign divorce

In short

Can foreigners get divorced in Turkey?

Yes. Turkish courts do not require either spouse to be a Turkish citizen. The Turkish Act on Private International Law (Law No. 5718) provides that the international jurisdiction of Turkish courts follows the ordinary Turkish rules on territorial jurisdiction (Art. 40). For divorce, those rules are in Art. 168 of the Turkish Civil Code: the competent court is the court where one of the spouses lives, or the court of the place where they last lived together for at least six months before the case was filed.

In practice, a British couple living in Antalya can start the case in the Antalya family court. If they live in Alanya, the case may belong to the Alanya courthouse, which has its own family court. A spouse who has gone back to the UK can still be sued in Turkey if the other spouse lives here.

Divorce and separation cases are heard by the family court (aile mahkemesi).

Which law applies to a divorce with a foreign element?

Law No. 5718, Art. 14 states the rule for the grounds and the consequences of divorce:

1. the common national law of the spouses; if they are of different nationalities,
2. the law of their common habitual residence; and if there is none,
3. Turkish law.

What this means in practice:

• Two British spouses living in Antalya: their common national law applies, not Turkish law. Because the UK has several legal systems, the law of the relevant part (England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland) is determined under the UK's own rules; where those do not say, the court uses the law most closely connected with the case (Art. 2(5)). The spouses cannot switch to Turkish law by agreement: in a 2019 case, the Court of Cassation (Yargıtay) overturned a divorce judgment between two British citizens because the lower court had applied Turkish law at the parties' request instead of English law.
• A British spouse and a Turkish spouse: they do not share a nationality. If they live together in Turkey, their common habitual residence is Turkey and Turkish law applies. If they live together in the UK, UK law would apply, but a Turkish court would still need jurisdiction under Art. 168. With no common habitual residence, Turkish law applies.
• Interim measures (for example, temporary maintenance or who stays in the family home during the case) are always governed by Turkish law (Art. 14/4).

Turkish judges must apply foreign law on their own initiative, but they may ask the parties to help establish its content (Art. 2(1)). If, despite all efforts, the foreign rules cannot be established, Turkish law applies (Art. 2(2)).

In practice, courts usually obtain the text of the foreign law through the Ministry of Justice (Directorate General for Foreign Relations), and a certified Turkish translation of the relevant provisions goes into the file. The Court of Cassation regularly overturns divorce judgments between two foreign spouses where the lower court applied Turkish law without first researching the spouses' national law. Supplying the relevant foreign provisions early can avoid delay.

How does divorce work under Turkish law?

Where Turkish law applies, there are two routes.

1. Agreed (uncontested) divorce (anlaşmalı boşanma). Under Civil Code, Art. 166/3, the marriage is treated as irretrievably broken if:

• the marriage has lasted at least one year;
• the spouses apply together, or one spouse accepts the other's claim;
• the judge hears both spouses in person and is satisfied that they have expressed their will freely; and
• the judge approves the arrangement the spouses have agreed on money and the children. The judge may require changes, and the divorce is granted once the spouses accept them.

The agreement is usually put into a written protocol (protokol).

2. Contested divorce (çekişmeli boşanma). One spouse starts the case on a statutory ground (Civil Code, Arts. 161–166):

• adultery (Art. 161);
• attempt on life, grave ill-treatment or seriously humiliating behaviour (Art. 162);
• a disgraceful crime or a dishonourable way of life (Art. 163);
• desertion (Art. 164);
• mental illness certified by an official medical board (Art. 165);
• the general ground of an irretrievable breakdown of the marriage (Art. 166).

Some grounds have time limits for starting the case (for example, adultery: six months from learning of it, five years in any event, Art. 161). Contested cases involve evidence and witnesses and take considerably longer than agreed divorces. No lawyer can promise a timetable: it depends on the court's workload, on serving documents abroad and on how much is disputed.

Is it hard to get a divorce in Turkey? Where the spouses agree and the marriage has lasted a year, the process is comparatively simple. A contested divorce, especially over children or property, is a full court case and takes much longer.

Which documents are needed?

A lawyer will decide exactly what to file, but expect to need:

• passports of both spouses (and the Turkish identity card, if one is Turkish);
• the marriage certificate;
• birth certificates of the children, if any;
• the protocol, in an agreed divorce;
• evidence of the spouses' address in Turkey (jurisdiction depends on it).

Foreign documents. The UK and Turkey are both parties to the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention. A UK marriage certificate is therefore apostilled in the UK and then translated into Turkish by a sworn translator (yeminli tercüman), and the translation is certified by a Turkish notary. Turkish authorities cannot apostille a foreign document.

Does the foreign marriage have to be registered in Turkey first?

• Two foreign spouses (for example, two British citizens who married in England): no. There is no Turkish register entry to complete or correct, and the marriage certificate is used as evidence in the case.
• A foreign spouse married to a Turkish citizen: the marriage should be recorded in the Turkish citizen's population register entry (nüfus kaydı). A marriage abroad before a foreign authority is valid in Turkey if it complies with Turkish law (Law No. 5490, Art. 24), and the Turkish citizen is expected to report it through the Turkish consulate. If this was never done, it can usually be completed before or with the divorce case, because the divorce judgment is later recorded against that entry.

What about an interpreter?

Court proceedings in Turkey are conducted in Turkish. A party who does not speak Turkish needs an interpreter at the hearing. The Code of Civil Procedure provides for witnesses who do not speak Turkish to be heard through an interpreter (Art. 263), and the same approach is followed in practice for parties. In an agreed divorce the judge needs to hear each spouse personally, so the interpreter's role is to make sure that each spouse understands the protocol and confirms it freely. A lawyer in Turkey can arrange for a sworn interpreter to attend.

Children, maintenance and property

Several different conflict-of-laws rules may apply within the same case.

• Custody and the children. Under Law No. 5718, Art. 14/3, custody (velayet) in a divorce case is governed by the same law as the divorce. Whatever the applicable law, the court must decide with the child's interests in mind and, where possible, hears the parents (Civil Code, Art. 182). The Hague Convention of 1996 on parental responsibility and child protection has applied in Turkey since 1 February 2017. If a parent takes a child to or from Turkey without the other's consent, the 1980 Hague Convention on international child abduction may apply, and urgent specialist advice is needed in both countries.
• Maintenance between spouses (nafaka). Maintenance between divorced spouses follows the divorce law (Art. 14/2). Under Turkish law, a spouse who would fall into poverty because of the divorce can ask for maintenance (Civil Code, Art. 175), and compensation and maintenance may be ordered as a lump sum or by instalments (Art. 176).
• Property of the spouses (mal rejimi). The spouses may choose the law of their habitual residence or of their nationality at the time of marriage. If they have not done so, the law is the common national law at the time of marriage, then the law of their common habitual residence at that time, and then Turkish law (Art. 15/1). When the property is divided, immovable property is governed by the law of the country where it is located (Art. 15/2). For a flat or villa in Antalya, this means that Turkish law governs the division of that property even if the spouses are British. The Turkish default regime is participation in acquired property (edinilmiş mallara katılma rejimi, Civil Code, Art. 202), so when and how a property was bought can matter. Take advice in your home country on any foreign regime.

Do you need to be in Turkey? Power of attorney

A lawyer in Turkey can represent a party in a contested case through a power of attorney (vekâletname). A power of attorney signed abroad is notarised there, apostilled and translated into Turkish by a sworn translator, and the translation is certified by a Turkish notary; alternatively, it can be signed at a Turkish consulate. Under Art. 74 of the Code of Civil Procedure, a lawyer cannot settle the case, waive the claim or accept the other side's claim unless the power of attorney expressly authorises it, so the wording must name the divorce and these acts. A general power of attorney may be rejected. In an agreed divorce, the judge must still hear both spouses in person.

A divorce granted abroad: is it valid in Turkey?

Where one spouse is a Turkish citizen, a couple who divorce abroad often discover that the Turkish records still show them as married. There are two different questions.

1. Registration in the population register (nüfus kütüğü). Where a Turkish citizen is one of the spouses, the foreign divorce decree should be entered in the Turkish population register. Under Law No. 5490, Art. 27/A, a decision on divorce, annulment or a declaration about the existence of a marriage, given by a foreign judicial or administrative authority, is registered if:

• it was made by an authority competent under the law of the country that made it;
• it has become final (kesinleşmiş) under that law; and
• it is not manifestly contrary to Turkish public policy.

The application is made by both spouses together, personally or through representatives; if the other spouse is foreign or has died, the Turkish citizen can apply alone. Registration is made at the Turkish consulate in the country where the decision was made or, within Turkey, at the population offices designated by the Ministry (Art. 27/A(2)). The detailed procedure is set by regulation (Art. 27/A(4)).

2. Recognition by a Turkish court (tanıma). If administrative registration is refused because those conditions are not met, the decision can be recognised through the court procedure in Law No. 5718 (Law No. 5490, Art. 27/A(3)). The relevant provisions are in Arts. 50–59 of Law No. 5718, with the following essentials:

• the case is heard by the court of first instance (Art. 51); for divorce decisions this is the family court (aile mahkemesi);
• the application must be accompanied by the judgment, certified by the foreign authorities, with a certified translation, and by a document showing the judgment is final (Art. 53);
• the court checks that the foreign court did not take jurisdiction over a matter within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Turkish courts, that the decision is not manifestly contrary to Turkish public policy, and that the respondent was properly summoned and represented (Art. 54). For recognition, the reciprocity requirement in Art. 54(a) does not apply (Art. 58(1)).

Until it is registered or recognised, a Turkish citizen may still appear as married in the Turkish records.

Foreign orders about property in Turkey. Recognition makes a foreign divorce effective in Turkey, but it does not by itself carry out orders made abroad. If a foreign judgment orders, for example, the transfer of a flat in Antalya or a payment to be collected in Turkey, it must be declared enforceable by a Turkish court (tenfiz, Law No. 5718, Arts. 50–57) before the land registry or enforcement office will act on it.

A Turkish divorce abroad

A divorce judgment from a Turkish court is a Turkish judgment. Whether the UK (or another country) recognises it is decided by that country's law and procedure, and the rules depend on the country and, in the UK, on the nature of the divorce. Take advice in your home country before relying on it there. In practice, the foreign authority will usually ask for a certified copy of the judgment showing that it is final (a kesinleşme şerhi), apostilled in Turkey and, where needed, translated. Ask the Turkish court registry for the final judgment with the finality annotation, not just a copy of the first-instance decision.

What happens to a residence permit?

A foreign spouse of a Turkish citizen who lives in Turkey on a family residence permit (aile ikamet izni) depends on the Turkish spouse as the sponsor. Under the Foreigners and International Protection Law (Law No. 6458), Art. 34(6), in case of divorce a foreigner who was married to a Turkish citizen can be given a short-term residence permit if they have stayed at least three years on a family residence permit. The three-year requirement is waived if domestic violence against the foreign spouse is established by a court decision. The permit is discretionary ("may be given"), so divorce can have a real effect on the right to stay. Art. 34(6) concerns spouses of Turkish citizens only; for others, the position depends on the sponsor's permit, and the Provincial Directorate of Migration Management (Göç İdaresi) in Antalya is the authority to check with before filing.