Glossary
Kaymakamlık — meaning and English translation
The kaymakamlık is the District Governorship in Türkiye, the state's administrative office at district level, and the quickest place to have a document apostilled.
Türkiye's provinces are divided into districts (ilçe), and each district is administered by a kaymakam appointed by the central government. The kaymakamlık is his or her office, and its responsibilities run from public order and social assistance to the certification of documents. For anyone preparing papers for the UK it is the office that apostilles administrative documents: a civil registry extract, a diploma, a notarised deed. The apostille is issued free of charge and usually the same day, whereas the provincial office may take a few days.
We translate it as “District Governorship (Kaymakamlık)” and the office-holder as “District Governor”. “Sub-governor” and “prefecture” appear in some dictionaries, but they import French administrative terms that a UK reader would find opaque.
A UK body will see the name on the apostille certificate itself, in field 5, “certified by”. Whether that certificate is needed at all is covered under do I need an apostille?