Recording a New York Death in the Turkish Registry

When a Turkish citizen dies in New York, the death is reported by handing the death certificate issued by the local authorities to a Turkish embassy or consulate. The consulate then records the death in the Turkish population register through the system. Which consulate in the United States handles your case, and what it asks for beyond the certificate, should be confirmed with that consulate.

If the consulate cannot complete the registration through the system, it prepares two copies of a death notification form, attaches the deceased's identity card (nüfus cüzdanı or kimlik kartı), and sends them to the population directorate (nüfus müdürlüğü) where the deceased's family register is kept.

Registering in Türkiye instead

If the death could not be reported to a consulate for any reason, you can apply to a district population directorate in Türkiye. The New York death certificate must first be translated into Turkish and duly certified. The directorate you apply to then draws up the death record (ölüm tutanağı). The same applies where the deceased still appears as living in the family register: the population directorate prepares the death record when you apply with a document showing the death.

Preparing the New York death certificate

For documents from states party to the Hague Apostille Convention, Turkish population services process the original with an apostille attached and a Turkish translation approved by a notary. The apostille for a New York death certificate is issued by the New York State Department of State. A document issued by an honorary consulate is not accepted as a basis for registration.

Check who signed the certificate before you apply. If a local or county official or a county Department of Health issued it, the County Clerk must certify it first, and the Department of State attaches the apostille after that certification. If the certificate carries the signature of the NYS Department of Health (Director of Vital Statistics or NYS Registrar), no County Clerk step is needed. The Department of State takes applications by mail or as walk-in service at its New York City, Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo and Utica offices.

The Turkish translation comes after the apostille. A translator sworn before a Turkish notary (yeminli tercüman) translates the death certificate in Türkiye, and a Turkish notary approves the translation, as the notarized translation requirement demands.

Multilingual civil status extracts issued under International Commission on Civil Status conventions are processed without any certification. The regulation does not list the participating countries, so whether a given document qualifies should be confirmed with the receiving office. In every route, the consulate or population directorate decides whether the documents are accepted.