What’s in Turkey civil status documents?

Entries in Turkish Civil Status Records Since 1876

What information is contained in Turkish civil status documents, such as birth, marriage, and death registers?

The Turkish civil status law has undergone numerous changes over time, defining detailed standards for the types of entries required in official registers.

Civil Registry Registers

There are three main registers: births, marriages, and deaths. All entries are made by the civil registry office where the event was originally recorded. For example, if a child is born in one city and the family later moves, the entry remains in the registry of the birth city.

The law passed on February 6, 1875, effective January 1, 1876, specified the following required information for registrations:

Birth Records

Name, status or profession, and address of the informant
Place, date, and hour of birth
Child’s gender
Child’s first name(s)
Names, religion, status or profession, and address of the parents

Note: Stillborn children were recorded only in the death register.

Marriage Records

Names, religion, age, status or profession, place of birth, and address of bride and groom
Name, status or profession, and address of the parents
Names, age, status or profession, and address of witnesses
Declaration by bride and groom to marry
Official’s statement on the legality of the marriage

Before the marriage banns, the couple had to submit their birth certificates. If underage, parental consent was required.Death Records

Name, status or profession, and address of the informant
Place, date, and hour of death
Name, religion, age, status or profession, address, and place of birth of the deceased
Name of spouse (if unmarried, noted as such)
Names, status or profession, and address of the deceased’s parents

Legal Changes Over Time

June 11, 1920: Religion was no longer recorded by officials but was collected for statistical purposes.
October 18, 1935: Bride and groom had to submit health certificates proving no impediments to marriage. Proof of descent was also required; submitted birth certificates became part of a “blanket file” (“Sammelakte”).
November 3, 1937: The marriage certificate became a “family file” containing two parts:
1. Marriage details including names, professions, addresses, birth data, religion, witnesses, declarations, and official statements
2. Immediate family information such as parents’ data, children born in or out of wedlock, and related certificates
September 27, 1944: The second part of the family file was discontinued.
Cause of death was included in death certificates only if a medical declaration was provided; nowadays it is no longer recorded.
Religion is recorded only upon request.

Need Official Civil Status Documents from Turkey?

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