Marriage Registration in Turkey

Hello, please help me with the following: I have received a family booklet reflecting the registration of my foreign marriage, however, my husband had a second marriage already registered as well. Since I was given registration documents and his 2nd marriage was illegal (took place after ours), did the registration office automatically cancel his second marriage or do I have to do something?. Please help & thank you.

Did your "foreign" marriage take place in Turkey? If so,your husband cannot formally marry with another person; Since poligamy is prohibited, the second marriage is null and void according to Turkish law due to a previous marriage legal and registered.

Thank you Bulent. My foreign marriage took place in the U.K., but my husband re-married in Turkey without divorcing me and without my knowledge. When I found out, I registered our marriage through the embassy. Sure polygamy is illegal in Turkey, he was able to marry in Turkey because our British marriage had not been registered in Turkey as we lived in the U.K., another words, he must have lied on his kimlik that he was single. So my question still stands, as I have been given that international booklet from the embassy in London, does that mean the registration office in Turkey cancelled the bigamist marriage or do I have to ask a court to cancel his Turkish marriage?.

If i received registration papers, I am assuming the Nufus office automatically cancelled the Turkish marriage as I don't believe they could register 2 marriages, but I don't know the process in Turkey. How can I find out for sure and would the 2nd wife would have been notified she was not the legal spouse?.

Dear Konuk,

The relevant Articles of the Turkish Civil Code are as follows :

Alıntı: Art. 145 / 1 : "The marriage is null and void in case one of the spouses is already married with another person in the time of the marriage" Art. 156 : "A void marriage terminates only if it is nullified by a decree of a Court.It takes effect as a valid marriage until the decision of the Court even it is null and void." Art. 146 : "The Public prosecutor files for nullification of a void marriage by his own initiative. This case can be brought before the court by all persons relevant" Art. 147 / 3 : "The second marriage cannot be rendered invalid by Court provided that the first marriage has already been terminated before the judgement for nullfication and the spouse of the second marriage is in good faith.” Art. 12 of the Turkish International Code of Civil Procedure : " The national laws of each spouse in the time of the marriage shall seperately govern the marital capacity and requisites to marry."

In the light of the above mentioned provisions, we may draw the conclusion that the marriage registered in Turkey must be nullified by a court decision.This can either be done via public prosecution which shall act on your due complaint or by your own initiative.You shall substantiate in the case that your husband has already been married with you and this marriage is still valid.

Bulent, you're very helpful. I am still not sure however, if the Public Registration Office in Turkey had power to cancel the illegal marriage or whether I have to hire a lawyer to do this. The following is the (translated) letter I received from Turkey via the embassy:

"In the attached registered letter received from XX Public Registration Office, it is asked
if there is the divorcee verdict of the court or not
for Mr. X; as a condition that he cannot make a
second marriage officially on the date of xx. If there is the official divorcee verdict, it is asked to hand in copies of it and also the rejection of his marriage declaration is demanded for to be handed in to the Public
Registration Office".

After receiving that letter, I confirmed that no divorce took place and requested that 2nd marriage be cancelled. Subsequently I received the marriage booklet. I therefore assume Turkish officials from registration office obtained cancellation from the court on my behalf as otherwise they would not have issued me the marriage booklet. Do you think my assumption is correct?. Thanks.

If you can provide the necessary documents that the Turkish authorities have required, the legal proocedings will be initiated by the officials (ex oficio), as I have indicated in my previous reply.

Dear Madam
According to what you told before, the best thing to do is to apply to the Prosecution Service and involve them in the case. Double marriage and making false statements to legal outhorities are forbiden according to in Turkısh law like the UK (as well as if you say lie to police about oyur adress etc).

Re: double marriage & presecution service.

Dear Konuk: Thanks for that reply and yes it would seem the best approach, but at the moment I don't have funds for lawyers in Turkey, who seem to charge foreigners a prohibitive fee. I have done the registrations of marriage and child via the Turkish embassy in my country.

I would hope that the Turkish embassy in conjuction with the registration office in Turkey, would have proceeded in a legal manner, ie: cancelling his invalid Turkish marriage after I provided embassy proof of our legal marriage. In my letter to embassy, I requested not only registration of the marriage/child, but also cancellation of his bigamist marriage. If they had not cancelled his Turkish marriage, I don't think embassy would have provided me with the marriage booklet, would they have?. If you have been in a similar situation and are able to provide more insight, kindly contact me at surviving.gal@hotmail.com. Thank you for taking the time to read and reply to my post.