Iranian and Afghan documents: legalization and denklik

Legalization is not the translation

A Turkish office can ask for three different acts on one foreign document. A sworn translation puts the page into Turkish under a translator’s oath. A notary’s approval is a separate act, often on that signature. Consular legalization, tasdik, confirms a signature and a seal. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says so in its Tasdik Birimi brochure: each authority confirms the signature and the seal of the authority before it, and the confirmation does not extend to the text.

An apostille replaces that chain between parties to the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961. It does not translate the page. The Persian, Dari and Pashto guide explains the oath, the language pair and the HCCH table. This page is the next step, for a document issued in Iran or Afghanistan, and for the two denklik files that use those pages. What to check before translating is the short list of questions for the receiving office.

Why these two countries have no apostille

Iran and Afghanistan do not appear on the HCCH status table for this convention. A public document from a country that is not a party cannot be apostilled under it, because that country has no competent authority. Türkiye has been a party since 29 September 1985. Pakistan has been a party since 9 March 2023, so a Pakistani public document can follow a different branch. Check the status table on the day you file.

The Ministry’s brochure answers the question people take to the wrong desk. An apostilled document cannot be certified again by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Between parties, the apostille is already the certificate. For Iran and Afghanistan there is no apostille to present, so the non-apostille route in the same brochure is the one that opens.

The two methods in the MFA brochure

The Tasdik Birimi brochure describes foreign documents that were not apostilled and that you need to use in Türkiye. It does not print a separate counter for Tehran or for Kabul. It describes two methods. Before either one, you finish the issuing country’s own internal approval, including that country’s ministry of foreign affairs. Confirm the current desks with the authority that issued the page. A sequence copied from a forum is not the brochure.

The brochure also states a translation rule that sits over both methods. For a foreign public document to be used by Turkish authorities, a Turkish translation by a sworn translator has to be certified by a Turkish representation abroad and attached to the document. Read that sentence against the method you were told to follow. A translation made in the wrong country, or certified by the wrong office, is how a finished booklet is handed back.

Method one: the Turkish representation abroad

In the first method you obtain the document, complete that country’s internal approval and foreign-ministry certification, have it translated there, and have the Turkish representation certify the translation. The brochure then says the document can be used in Türkiye directly. A further certification by the Turkish Ministry, or by another Turkish authority, is not required.

The method depends on a Turkish representation in the issuing country being able to certify the page. The brochure does not promise that every representation is open for every document this month. Before you courier an original diploma, birth record or marriage record, ask what that representation currently accepts, which prior stamps it wants, and whether it certifies the translation, the original, or both. If it cannot do the act, ask the receiving office in Türkiye which method it will accept instead.

The translation in this method is part of the certification, not a private reading copy. It has to follow the original. A Persian spelling, the Latin spelling in the passport and the spelling on an older diploma often differ by a letter. The sworn-translation guide explains why the translator does not silently unify them.

Method two: the foreign representation, then Ankara or the governor

In the second method the document, already certified by the issuing country’s foreign ministry, is certified by that country’s representation in Türkiye. If that representation is in Ankara, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs certifies the representation’s approval. If it is in another city, the governorate of that city does. The translation in this method is made in Türkiye, and the brochure’s diagram puts notary approval on it.

The certification unit works by appointment. Book at tasdik.mfa.gov.tr before you go. Bring the original chain. The unit confirms the previous signature and seal. It does not rewrite a diploma, and it does not decide a residence file or a denklik file.

Which method you need is the receiving office’s sentence. The Council of Higher Education accepts a Turkish translation approved by a Turkish notary or by a Turkish representation abroad, which is why both methods can appear on one denklik list. A migration directorate, a population directorate or a high-school equivalence centre may name only one. Show the unfinished original before you pay for the other method.

Birth records and marriage records

e-İkamet’s guidance treats a foreign birth record, a custody paper, a death record and a marriage record as civil documents. If the holder is a citizen of a country that is not a party to the Apostille Convention, or the document has no apostille, the note asks for approval by that country’s authorities and by the authorized Turkish authorities. It names consular or embassy approval and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and a notarized Turkish translation. The student form, read on 21 October 2026, prints the same note for a minor. How a permit file uses the result is in the 2026 residence-permit guide and the student ikamet guide.

A marriage record shows the marriage, and the guidance asks for the original at the appointment. A Turkish population extract is different: an e-signature, or a signature and a stamp, can be enough. Do not send it abroad for legalisation only because the passports are Iranian or Afghan. A university booklet is not automatically the marriage file. Personal documents covers these records. Residence and visa documents covers the permit file.

High-school equivalence at the Ministry of National Education

Denklik at the Ministry of National Education finds which grade, field or branch in Türkiye matches a primary or secondary certificate from abroad, or from an international school at that level in Türkiye. It is not a university admission, and it is not YÖK. The rules in force are the equivalence regulation in the Resmî Gazete of 9 July 2024. You apply through e-Denklik, upload the form, and present the originals at a centre. Inside Türkiye the centre is a provincial or district national-education directorate. Abroad it is an education counsellor or an education attaché.

For a graduate, article 5 asks for the diploma, or proof of the right to receive it, with an apostille. Where there is no apostille, it accepts approval by that country’s education ministry, foreign ministry, or embassy or consulate. Iran and Afghanistan take that second branch. If the original is lost, article 4 allows a copy the school and that country’s education ministry have approved, with an apostille or, if the country is not a party, that country’s embassy. Article 12 keeps wholly or partly distance-learning certificates outside equivalence.

If the centre cannot read the official language, article 5 asks for a notarized translation. A translation made abroad needs consular approval under Notaries Law No. 1512. You also file the identity document the regulation names, and passport pages for the country of study. Under eighteen, a parent files. You can object within three months of the certificate’s date. Turkish schools abroad, Maarif schools and TRNC public and private schools are not put through this procedure. This article quotes no ministry fee.

YÖK denklik, and the fee set for 2026

YÖK recognizes associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees earned abroad. A doctorate goes to the Interuniversity Board. Study in Türkiye describes equivalence as the finding that the foreign degree matches the Turkish award. An unrecognized institution is refused. A recognition letter is not a denklik certificate.

The YÖK application page records a decision of the Higher Education Executive Board on 24 December 2025. From 1 January 2026 through 31 December 2026, a diploma equivalence application, and a request for re-examination, is 1,250 Turkish lira. A compliance certificate after graduation from the TRNC is also 1,250 lira. A letter that the file is still in process is 300 lira, unless you ask for it when you apply, in which case the page charges nothing. Other information petitions are 300 lira. A petition that only answers a document YÖK requested is free. The account is printed on that page, and the payment description has to say what the payment is for. An older Study in Türkiye answer of 150 lira is not this decision.

The page gives no fixed number of days. An incomplete file does not start. A later gap gets thirty days, and the application is then returned.

What the YÖK file contains, including the Iranian code

Turkish citizens and foreign nationals can apply. You sign the online pre-application from denklik.webfarm.yok.gov.tr and the consent form. You bring the original diploma and transcript, each with a Turkish translation approved by a Turkish notary or a Turkish representation, the passports used during the study or approved copies of the travel pages, an entry-exit record, the fee receipt, and a colour copy of every page.

Iran has a line that is not optional. For a degree from a university in Iran, whether the holder is an Iranian citizen or a foreign national, the consent form must include the 20-digit graduation code. YÖK says the code comes from Portal.saorg.ir, under the graduates section, and that an application without it is not accepted. The code is how the diploma is confirmed. A translation does not create it.

A foreign national applying for a master’s or a doctorate in Türkiye does not, on this page, need denklik except in clinical health fields. That applicant can ask for a recognition letter and apply to the university with it. A Turkish citizen whose bachelor’s or master’s degree was earned abroad does need denklik to apply for graduate study in Türkiye. If ÖSYM examines the language of the programme, the page asks for a verified score of at least 60, or an accepted equivalent, within two years of the application. Diplomas and transcripts is the service page for those two documents. Admission, as distinct from recognition of a degree you already hold, is the 2026 university guide.

Afghan school documents, without an invented desk

A tazkira, a school diploma, a transcript or a marriage record from Afghanistan may be in Dari, in Pashto, or in both. The translation pair follows the page. The legalisation follows the same two facts as for Iran. Afghanistan is not an Apostille Convention party, and the brochure’s two methods are the methods for a document that cannot be apostilled. Article 5 of the National Education regulation uses that same branch for a high-school graduate: approval by the country’s education ministry, foreign ministry, or embassy or consulate.

The brochure names no Kabul counter, and this page will not invent one. Ask the Turkish representation which prior stamp it requires and whether it is receiving originals. If it cannot certify the page, the translation cannot supply the stamp. A secondary diploma a university asks for at registration is the Ministry file, when that list names it. A bachelor’s degree offered for recognition is the YÖK file.

A workable order

Ask the receiving office, in writing, which procedure you are in: a residence or marriage file, high-school equivalence, or YÖK equivalence. Do not request an apostille from Iran or Afghanistan. Finish the issuing country’s internal approval, including its foreign ministry. Then follow method one or method two, as that office’s sentence and the representation’s current practice allow. Commission the Turkish translation only when you know whether it is certified abroad or notarized in Türkiye. Sworn and notarized translation keeps the two acts apart. Translation services asks for the document type, the languages, the issuing country and the receiving office before a page is translated.

• Translating before the original is legalized, when the office wanted the stamps on the original first.
• Sending English where the list asked for notarized Turkish, or treating a foreign translation-office stamp as a Turkish notary’s approval.
• Asking YÖK to equivalence a high-school diploma, or the Ministry of National Education to equivalence a bachelor’s degree.
• Filing an Iranian university degree with no graduation code, or paying the older 150 lira figure instead of the 1,250 lira set for 2026.
• Unifying name spellings the originals do not share.

What is quoted, and who decides

Notarial and translation fees are quoted for the document in front of you, from its length, pair and the notarial act. The first message needs no passport number. These pages were read in October 2026. The office you file with accepts or refuses the booklet. A complete chain is not that decision. The translator’s profile is on the Asuman Aksoy page.