Before anyone reads the content, the authority receiving a translation looks at its outer elements: who translated it, into which language, whether every page carries a signature, and whether the text bears a statement that it conforms to the original. Turkish material sets those elements out with unusual precision, and a rendering that is faithful line by line can still be handed back because one of them is missing.
The elements the circular spells out
The Ministry of Justice circular on international service in civil matters lists them in a single passage. Translation of the papers to be served is entrusted to a translator versed in legal terminology. The person translating writes their name, surname and title. Every page of the translation is signed. The language into which the translation was made is stated. And a statement that the translation conforms to the original is placed on the text in that language. Not one of the five concerns how good the rendering is. They exist so that the authority can see who produced the text and in what capacity, which is a question of attribution rather than of quality, and it is the question a clerk can answer without reading Turkish.
The statement goes in the language of the translation
The wording is specific on this point: the statement of conformity is placed on the text in the language in which the translation was made. A Turkish sentence certifying accuracy, attached to an English text, does not answer the requirement; nor does a Turkish statement fastened to a French set. The circulars on criminal matters build the same rule for criminal papers and add that a statement given and signed in that way needs no further certification of the translated papers by Turkish judicial authorities. Where one file is going to be read in two languages, the statement appears in the target language of each part rather than once at the front of the bundle.
Signed on every page, not only at the end
A signature on every page is a requirement about the physical set, and it shapes how the set is put together. Pages are numbered so that a missing one shows. Where the source and the rendering are placed side by side, it is the pages of the translation that carry the signature. Annexes rendered as part of the same work sit inside the same numbering instead of being appended as a separate bundle with its own first page. None of this is a matter of taste: an unsigned page in the middle of a set is precisely what a checking clerk is looking for.
A copy carries its own note
Where what is served is a copy rather than an original, the criminal circular requires the copy to bear a note of conformity with the original, with the name, surname and title of the person certifying it. Turkish registry practice runs in parallel: copies of a judgment are issued by the registry head with a statement that they conform to the original (Registry Services Regulation, Article 216(7)). Notes of that kind belong to the source document and are rendered along with the rest of it. The copy the work was made from can be decisive on its own account, because the concession allowing a translation to be made from a photocopy does not reach the judgment attached to an exequatur petition.
Certification is a separate layer
Certification sits on top of these elements rather than in place of them. In Türkiye the notarial route adds an annotation below the text, given by the notary, dated, signed and sealed (Notaries Law Article 103). For use abroad a further link can be needed, and in international use that link takes the form of an apostille, which for administrative documents and for every notarial act is issued by the governor or the district governor, while for the original of a judicial document it is the judicial commission that issues it. Which link a particular file needs, and in what order, belongs to the cross-border matters section; this page is about what stands on the translation itself.
Where nothing is written down
Outside the situations the legislation spells out, the requirement comes from whoever is holding the file. MÖHUK Article 53(1) asks for an approved translation without naming who approves, and HMK Article 223(2) lets a court ask in addition for an official translation, an expression the Code does not define. In both cases the form that satisfies the request is settled at the receiving end rather than in the statute. A sworn translation made in Türkiye is not automatically accepted abroad; some authorities require a translator from their own sworn list. Check with the receiving authority before the translation starts. Acte Tercüme translates court and legal documents between Turkish, English and French for use before Turkish and foreign authorities.