Getting married in Turkey is governed by two different rules at the same time, and confusing them is the most common reason a file stalls. Capacity and the conditions of marriage are governed by the national law of each party at the moment of the marriage, while the form of the marriage is governed by the law of the country where it is celebrated (5718 sayılı Milletlerarası Özel Hukuk ve Usul Hukuku Hakkında Kanun m.13). The Turkish titles of the statutes and the Regulation are given here because the official texts are published under them. In practice this means your own law decides whether you are free to marry, and Turkish law decides how the marriage is celebrated and recorded.
1. Getting Married in Turkey as a Foreign National: Who May Marry Whom
A Turkish citizen and a foreigner, or two foreigners of different nationalities, may marry before a competent Turkish marriage officer, and the Regulation’s rules on the marriages of Turkish citizens apply to foreigners as well (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.12). There is no separate, parallel procedure for foreigners: the same file, the same examination and the same ceremony apply, with additions that follow from nationality.
1.1. Getting Married in Turkey When Both Partners Are Foreign
Two foreigners who hold different nationalities may marry before a competent Turkish marriage officer. Two foreigners who hold the same nationality may marry before that state’s mission in Turkey where their own national law has given the mission that power, and they may equally choose to marry before the competent Turkish authorities (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.12). The distinction is worth keeping in mind before booking anything: the consular route is open only to a same-nationality couple, and only if their own law opens it.
2. Getting Married in Turkey Before the Right Officer
The general rule and the rule for foreigners are not the same, and this is where files are most often sent to the wrong desk. Under the Civil Code the couple apply together to the marriage office of the place where one of them lives, and the marriage officer is the mayor or an officer assigned by the mayor in places with a municipality, and the village headman in villages (4721 sayılı Türk Medeni Kanunu m.134).
Where one of the spouses is a foreign national, that list narrows: municipal marriage offices and civil registry directorates are competent (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.12). The Population Services Law says the same thing and, in the same provision, allows the Ministry to give marriage-officer powers to provincial and district civil registry directorates, foreign missions and provincial and district mufti offices — then adds the same narrowing sentence for the case where one spouse is a foreigner (5490 sayılı Nüfus Hizmetleri Kanunu m.22). So an office that may lawfully celebrate a marriage between two Turkish citizens is not necessarily competent for a marriage involving a foreign national.
3. The Legal Age for Getting Married in Turkey
Two Turkish texts state the age differently, and for a foreign national a third rule sits above both.
The Civil Code sets the rule: no man or woman may marry before completing seventeen years of age, and a judge may permit the marriage of a man or woman who has completed sixteen in extraordinary circumstances and for a very important reason, the parents or guardian being heard before the decision wherever possible (4721 sayılı Türk Medeni Kanunu m.124). A minor may not marry without the consent of their legal representative, and a person under guardianship may not marry without the consent of their legal representative (m.126, m.127); a judge may grant permission after hearing a legal representative who withholds consent without good reason (m.128).
The Regulation states a graduated version: a man and a woman who have completed eighteen years of age and are not under guardianship marry without anyone’s consent or permission; those who have completed seventeen marry with the consent of the parent, or of the guardian or guardianship authority where there is no parent; those who have completed sixteen marry with the permission of a judge; and those who lack capacity of discernment, together with minors who have completed fifteen, may not marry even if declared of age by a court (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.14).
Read together, the Regulation describes the age at which no permission is needed, while the Code sets the floor and the judicial exception. Where the two are read differently, the Code prevails: a regulation is made under the Code, and the Code expressly leaves the marriage register, correspondence and other matters to a regulation (4721 sayılı Türk Medeni Kanunu m.144).
For a foreign national this whole discussion may not be the operative one. Age is part of capacity, and capacity is governed by that person’s own national law at the moment of the marriage (5718 sayılı Kanun m.13). The Turkish age rules apply directly to the Turkish party; for the foreign party they are the wrong text to read.
4. Impediments That Prevent Getting Married in Turkey
Several relationships bar a couple from getting married in Turkey altogether. Marriage is prohibited between ascendants and descendants; between siblings; between uncles, maternal uncles, paternal aunts and maternal aunts and their nieces and nephews; between one spouse and the ascendants or descendants of the other, even where the marriage that created the relationship by affinity has ended; and between an adopter and the adopted child, or between one of them and the other’s descendants and spouse (4721 sayılı Türk Medeni Kanunu m.129). Those who lack capacity of discernment may not marry (m.125), and those with a mental illness may not marry unless a report from an official health board establishes that there is no medical objection to their marrying (m.133).
A person who wishes to remarry must prove that the previous marriage has ended (4721 sayılı Türk Medeni Kanunu m.130). The Regulation adds the registry dimension: a person shown as married in the civil registry cannot marry again, and even where the previous marriage has ended by death, divorce or a court decision, no new marriage takes place until that fact has been recorded in the family registers (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.15). A marriage celebrated despite one of the gravest defects — an existing marriage, permanent lack of discernment, a mental illness amounting to an impediment, or prohibited kinship — is void in absolute terms (4721 sayılı Türk Medeni Kanunu m.145).
4.1. Getting Married in Turkey After a Previous Marriage: the Three-Hundred-Day Period
Where a marriage has ended, a woman may not remarry until three hundred days have passed from its ending; the period ends on giving birth, and the court lifts it where it is established that she is not pregnant from the previous marriage or where the former spouses wish to marry each other again (4721 sayılı Türk Medeni Kanunu m.132). The Regulation lists the same period among the impediments and repeats both exits (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.15). This is checked at the application stage, which is why a divorce decree that has not yet been recorded will hold up a file even when the period itself has run.
5. Documents for Getting Married in Turkey
Two provisions describe the file for getting married in Turkey, and they do not overlap word for word.
The Civil Code requires each of the man and the woman to give the marriage office the identity document and the civil registry record, the document relating to a previous marriage if it has ended, the legal representative’s signed and certified written consent if the person is a minor or under guardianship, and a health report showing that there is no illness constituting an impediment to marriage (4721 sayılı Türk Medeni Kanunu m.136).
The Regulation lists what goes into the file (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.20):
| Document | What the provision says |
|---|---|
| Declaration form | The declaration; where a licence is requested, the marriage licence is drawn up in two copies. |
| Health report | From a public or private health institution; a board report where required. |
| Consent document | Where consent or judicial permission is required because of minority or guardianship. |
| Photograph | A passport photograph. |
| Civil registry record or certificate of capacity to marry | The second of these is the foreigner’s document. |
Read the list against your own position: the consent item applies only where minority or guardianship makes it necessary, and the foreign party produces a certificate of capacity where a Turkish party would produce a registry record.
5.1. Getting Married in Turkey With a Certificate of Capacity to Marry
For foreigners, a document issued by the competent central authorities of their state, or by that state’s local missions, showing the name, surname, parents’ names and date of birth and whether any impediment to marriage exists, and authenticated in due form, is accepted as the certificate of capacity to marry (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.20). The originals of these certificates are kept in the marriage file.
The principle is that the party obtains the certificate directly from the authorities of the state of nationality; where that is not possible, the marriage office may request it through the General Directorate (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.12). Where the marriage office doubts the accuracy of a document, it may have it verified through the Ministry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by sending it to the mission of the state concerned (m.20).
One sentence in the same provision decides where you should not go: no procedure is established on the basis of documents issued by honorary consulates (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.20). A document that looks official can therefore still be the wrong document. For the authentication of foreign records more generally, the Turkish-language guide is Apostil nedir, nasıl alınır (Türkçe).
5.2. The Health Report Required Before Getting Married in Turkey
A health report is part of the file, and no marriage takes place where the report has not been obtained (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.20). The Regulation also lists the absence of the report among the impediments (m.15).
What the examination covers is deliberately not fixed in the Regulation: the procedure and principles concerning the health report are to be determined by a circular of the Ministry of Health, taking account of changing conditions in the health field (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.20). The underlying statute names the conditions that bar a marriage — syphilis, gonorrhoea, chancroid, leprosy and mental illness — and provides that the marriage of an affected person is not celebrated unless a physician’s report is produced showing that the illness has been treated and the danger of transmission has passed, or that the person has recovered (1593 sayılı Umumi Hıfzıssıhha Kanunu m.123).
On the question people actually ask: the examination is deepened only where signs of one of these illnesses appear or where the ordinary examination does not yield a conclusion, and blood is taken where syphilis is suspected (Evlenme Muayenesi Hakkında Nizamname m.6). A blood test is therefore conditional on the examination, not an automatic step. One point is fixed in the couple’s favour: the marriage examination is carried out free of charge at the State’s official health offices and institutions (m.1).
6. The Application: How Getting Married in Turkey Starts
The man and the woman who are to marry apply together to the marriage office of the place where one of them lives (4721 sayılı Türk Medeni Kanunu m.134), and the application is made in writing or orally (m.135). The Regulation states the same principle of a joint application (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.16).
The marriage officer then examines the application and the documents that must accompany it, completes or has completed any deficiency, and refuses the application where it has not been made in due form, where one of the parties lacks capacity to marry, or where a legal impediment exists — notifying the parties of the refusal in writing immediately (4721 sayılı Türk Medeni Kanunu m.137). The Regulation describes the same check in operational terms, including whether there is a discrepancy between the certificate of capacity to marry and the identity document and, if so, whether that discrepancy is capable of causing an error as to the person (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.21).
Objections have a closing time. Interested parties may object in writing until the end of working hours on the day before the marriage, on the ground that the parties lack capacity or that an impediment exists; objections made on the day of the marriage are not accepted (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.24).
6.1. Getting Married in Turkey Through a Representative: Application Yes, Ceremony No
These two are regularly confused, and the Regulation separates them cleanly. The application may be conducted through a person appointed as representative, for which a special power of attorney must be drawn up naming the principal, the representative and the person to be married, and expressly stating that it is given for the conduct of the marriage procedure; a copy goes into the file (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.17).
The ceremony is another matter: marriage cannot be celebrated by proxy (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.27). A representative can carry your paperwork; nobody can say the words for you.
7. The Marriage Licence: Getting Married in Turkey Within Six Months
Where the marriage officer establishes that the conditions are met, or where a court lifts a refusal, the officer notifies the couple of the day and time of the marriage or, if they ask for it, issues a marriage licence; the licence entitles them to marry before any marriage officer within six months from the date it is issued (4721 sayılı Türk Medeni Kanunu m.139). The Regulation adds that a couple holding such a licence may marry before a competent authority in Turkey or abroad without a further file being prepared (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.22).
Two further six-month limits sit around this one. Where the conditions are found not to exist, or where six months have passed since the documents were issued, the officer cannot perform the ceremony (4721 sayılı Türk Medeni Kanunu m.140). And the file itself is valid for six months from the date the certificate of capacity to marry was drawn up; if no marriage takes place in that time the file is removed from processing and cancelled (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.42).
This is the only place where the legislation speaks about time at all. It sets limits on how long a completed file stays usable; it does not promise how quickly an office will process one.
8. The Ceremony: When Getting Married in Turkey Takes Legal Effect
Getting married in Turkey takes legal effect at a single identifiable moment, and the ceremony is built around it. The ceremony is held in the marriage hall, publicly, before the marriage officer and two adult witnesses who have capacity of discernment; at the couple’s request it may also be held in another place the officer finds suitable (4721 sayılı Türk Medeni Kanunu m.141).
The officer asks each of the parties whether they wish to marry the other. The marriage comes into being at the moment the parties give their positive spoken answers, and the officer then declares that the marriage has been concluded by the mutual consent of the parties in accordance with the law (4721 sayılı Türk Medeni Kanunu m.142). The Regulation describes the same moment and adds that the positive answers must be confirmed as heard by the two witnesses (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.27).
8.1. Witnesses and Interpreters When Getting Married in Turkey
A witness must be an adult with capacity of discernment and must know the person for whom they are acting as witness; those who appear to lack discernment or not to know the party cannot act as witnesses. The witness attests that the declarations of intention were made freely, that the identity of the person is correct, and that the marriage took place (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.28).
Language is handled expressly. Where the foreign parties do not speak Turkish, the marriage officer may use an interpreter who speaks a language that is the first official language of a state recognised by the Turkish State, and that interpreter is to be present at the place of the ceremony by the parties beforehand (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.27). The duty to bring the interpreter sits with the couple, not with the office.
8.2. The Religious Ceremony Comes After Getting Married in Turkey
As soon as the ceremony ends the marriage officer hands the spouses a family booklet; a religious ceremony cannot be performed without the family booklet being produced; and the validity of the marriage does not depend on a religious ceremony being held (4721 sayılı Türk Medeni Kanunu m.143). The order is fixed by the provision itself, and the legal effect belongs entirely to the civil ceremony. The Turkish-language discussion of what a religious ceremony alone does and does not produce is İmam nikâhı (Türkçe).
9. Getting Married in Turkey at Your Own Country’s Mission
Two foreigners of the same nationality may marry before that state’s missions in Turkey where their own national law has given those missions the power, and may equally marry before the competent Turkish authorities (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.12). Marriages performed by embassies, consulates general and consulates are notified to the relevant civil registry directorates within thirty days of the marriage (m.32).
The route is closed to a mixed-nationality couple and to any couple where one party is a Turkish citizen: the provision opens it only to two foreigners holding the same nationality.
10. After Getting Married in Turkey: Booklet, Registration and Certificates
Getting married in Turkey produces two records: a booklet for the couple and an entry in the registers. Every couple who marry are given a family booklet drawn up by the marriage office, and the changes in the personal status of those recorded in it are to be entered by one of the spouses (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.30).
Marriages performed before the competent Turkish authorities inside the country are notified to the civil registry directorate of that place within ten days of the marriage, on a marriage notification form drawn up in due form (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.32). Foreign nationals who marry before the competent Turkish authorities are given a family booklet and, on request, a multilingual marriage certificate; where they are nationals of a state party to the relevant international convention, the marriage is communicated to the civil registry of the foreigner’s place of birth (m.34).
Whether the marriage is then recognised in another country is decided by that country’s own law. What Turkish law supplies is the record and the certificate.
11. Marrying Abroad and Registering the Marriage in Turkey
A Turkish man and woman abroad, or a Turkish citizen and a foreigner, may marry before the authorities competent to celebrate marriages in the country where they are, and such a marriage is also valid in Turkey provided it does not conflict with Turkish legislation (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.11).
The notification is a duty with a deadline. The document obtained from the foreign authority must be delivered or sent to the nearest Turkish consulate within thirty days of the marriage — by the husband where both spouses are Turkish citizens, and by the Turkish spouse where only one of them is (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.11). The Population Services Law states the corresponding rule for marriages of Turkish citizens before foreign authorities, which are valid provided they comply with the Civil Code and no ground of absolute nullity exists (5490 sayılı Nüfus Hizmetleri Kanunu m.24).
12. What Getting Married in Turkey Does Not Give You
Getting married in Turkey settles status, not residence and not nationality. Both of those are separate applications with their own conditions.
Living in Turkey with a Turkish spouse runs through the family residence permit, which is explained in the family residence permit guide; the residence categories generally are set out in the residence permit types guide. Naturalisation through the marriage is a further and later question: an application may be made after at least three years of marriage while the marriage continues, and the conditions and procedure are covered in Turkish citizenship by marriage. The other acquisition routes are compared in the general guide to acquiring Turkish citizenship. The Turkish-language guide to the residence permit of a foreigner married to a Turkish citizen is Türk vatandaşıyla evli yabancının ikamet izni (Türkçe).
The provisions cited above are used as they stood in force on the date shown at the top of this guide.
- Apply together to the marriage officeThe couple apply together to the marriage office of the place where one of them lives. Where one partner is a foreign national, the competent offices are municipal marriage offices and civil registry directorates.4721 sayılı Türk Medeni Kanunu m.134
- File the documents for getting married in TurkeyThe file holds the declaration form, the health report, any consent document, a photograph, and the civil registry record or the certificate of capacity to marry.Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.20
- Examination of the applicationThe marriage officer reviews the application and the documents, completes any missing item, and refuses the application where a party lacks capacity or an impediment exists.4721 sayılı Türk Medeni Kanunu m.137
- Marriage licence, valid six monthsWhere no impediment is found, the couple are given the date and time of the ceremony or, if they ask for it, a marriage licence valid for six months before any marriage officer.4721 sayılı Türk Medeni Kanunu m.139
- The ceremony before two witnessesThe officer asks each party whether they wish to marry the other; the marriage comes into being at the moment both give a positive spoken answer, before two adult witnesses.4721 sayılı Türk Medeni Kanunu m.142
- Family booklet and registrationThe officer hands the spouses a family booklet as soon as the ceremony ends, and the marriage is notified to the civil registry directorate within ten days.Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.32
Frequently Asked Questions
Can foreigners get married in Turkey?
Yes. A Turkish citizen and a foreigner, or two foreigners of different nationalities, may marry before a competent Turkish marriage officer, and the Regulation's rules on the marriages of Turkish citizens apply to foreigners as well (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.12).
Can two foreigners get married in Turkey?
Two foreigners of different nationalities may marry before a competent Turkish marriage officer. Two foreigners holding the same nationality may marry before that state's mission in Turkey where their own national law gives the mission that power, and they may equally marry before the competent Turkish authorities (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.12).
Which law decides whether I am free to marry?
Capacity and the conditions of marriage are governed by the national law of each party at the time of the marriage, while the form of the marriage is governed by the law of the country where it takes place (5718 sayılı Milletlerarası Özel Hukuk ve Usul Hukuku Hakkında Kanun m.13). Two separate rules therefore apply at once: your own law on whether you may marry, Turkish law on how the marriage is celebrated.
What is the legal age for getting married in Turkey?
Under the Civil Code no man or woman may marry before completing seventeen years of age, and a judge may permit the marriage of someone who has completed sixteen in extraordinary circumstances and for a very important reason (4721 sayılı Türk Medeni Kanunu m.124). For a foreign national, age is part of capacity and is therefore governed by that person's own national law (5718 sayılı Kanun m.13).
Which documents are required for getting married in Turkey?
The marriage file contains the declaration form, a health report from a public or private health institution, the consent document where consent is required, a passport photograph, and either the civil registry record or the certificate of capacity to marry (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.20). The Civil Code separately requires the identity and registry records, evidence that any previous marriage has ended, the legal representative's signed consent where the person is a minor or under guardianship, and the health report (4721 sayılı Türk Medeni Kanunu m.136).
What is a certificate of capacity to marry and where do I get it?
For foreigners, a document issued by the competent central authorities of their state or by that state's local missions, showing the name, surname, parents' names and date of birth and whether any impediment to marriage exists, and authenticated in due form, is accepted as the certificate of capacity to marry (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.20). The principle is that the party obtains it directly from the authorities of the state of nationality; where that is not possible the marriage office may request it through the General Directorate (m.12).
Is a blood test required for getting married in Turkey?
A health report is required, and no marriage takes place without one (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.20). What the examination covers is not fixed in that provision: the procedure and principles are left to a circular of the Ministry of Health. Under the Regulation on Marriage Examination the examination is deepened only where signs of a relevant illness appear, and blood is taken where syphilis is suspected (Evlenme Muayenesi Hakkında Nizamname m.6). A blood test is therefore conditional, not automatic.
Can tourists get married in Turkey?
The document list for the marriage file does not ask for a visa or a residence permit, and for foreigners the address declared on the declaration form is taken as the basis, with no further address document required (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.20). The provisions govern capacity, impediments and documents; they do not regulate immigration status, so a person's right to be in Turkey is a separate question from the marriage file.
Can I get married in Turkey through a representative?
The application may be handled by a representative appointed under a special power of attorney that names the principal, the representative and the intended spouse and states expressly that it is given for the conduct of the marriage procedure (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.17). The marriage itself cannot be celebrated by proxy (m.27).
Who may perform the marriage when one partner is a foreigner?
Where one of the spouses is a foreign national, municipal marriage offices and civil registry directorates are competent (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.12; 5490 sayılı Nüfus Hizmetleri Kanunu m.22). That is narrower than the general rule, under which the marriage officer is the mayor or an officer assigned by the mayor in places with a municipality and the village headman in villages (4721 sayılı Türk Medeni Kanunu m.134).
How long is a marriage licence valid?
A marriage licence gives the couple the right to marry before any marriage officer within six months from the date it is issued (4721 sayılı Türk Medeni Kanunu m.139). The marriage file prepared for the purpose is likewise valid for six months from the date the certificate of capacity to marry was drawn up, and is cancelled if no marriage takes place in that period (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.42).
What does getting married in Turkey cost?
The legislation on marriage procedure does not set a fee figure, so an amount quoted elsewhere is not a statutory rate. One point is fixed: the marriage examination is carried out free of charge at the State's official health offices and institutions (Evlenme Muayenesi Hakkında Nizamname m.1). Confirm any other charge with the marriage office that will handle the file.
At what moment does the marriage legally exist?
The officer asks each of the parties whether they wish to marry the other, and the marriage comes into being at the moment the parties give their positive spoken answers (4721 sayılı Türk Medeni Kanunu m.142). The ceremony is held before the officer and two adult witnesses with capacity of discernment (m.141).
Is a religious ceremony enough?
No. The officer hands the spouses a family booklet as soon as the ceremony ends, a religious ceremony cannot be held without that booklet being produced, and the validity of the marriage does not depend on a religious ceremony being held at all (4721 sayılı Türk Medeni Kanunu m.143).
Can same-sex couples get married in Turkey?
No. The provisions governing marriage are written for a man and a woman: the application is made by the man and the woman who are to marry each other (4721 sayılı Türk Medeni Kanunu m.134), and the officer puts the question separately to the woman and the man at the ceremony (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.27).
Will a marriage celebrated in Turkey be recognised abroad?
That is decided by the other country's own law, not by Turkish legislation. What Turkish law provides is the evidence: foreign nationals married before the competent Turkish authorities receive a family booklet and, on request, a multilingual marriage certificate (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.34).
We married abroad. How is the marriage registered in Turkey?
A marriage celebrated abroad before the authorities competent there is also valid in Turkey provided it does not conflict with Turkish legislation (Evlendirme Yönetmeliği m.11). The notification is made by delivering or sending the document obtained from the foreign authority to the nearest consulate within thirty days of the marriage (m.11; 5490 sayılı Nüfus Hizmetleri Kanunu m.24).