Company Formation in Türkiye: Foreign Documents

When a foreign company sets up a branch or takes part in a company in Türkiye, its documents go to the trade registry office. The Trade Registry Regulation sets one rule for every document drawn up abroad under a foreign law.

The general rule

Such documents must be certified either by a Turkish consulate or under the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, the Apostille Convention, and they must be submitted to the registry office together with a notarised Turkish translation. Both steps are required; the apostille alone does not replace the translation.

Registering a branch of a foreign company

For a branch of a business whose head office is outside Türkiye, the regulation lists the documents to be filed. Two of them come from abroad. The first is a certified copy of the document showing the head office's current registry entries and, for companies, the articles of association, each with a Turkish translation. The second applies when the decision to open the branch does not name the person who will represent it with full authority, including before courts and public bodies: then the original power of attorney for that person and a Turkish translation are filed.

Which office issues the apostille for a company register extract depends on where the company is registered; our pages on company documents by country list the offices.

The notarised Turkish translation is prepared in Ankara by translators sworn before a Turkish notary. Whether the filing is complete is decided by the trade registry office.