Glossary
Kesinleşme şerhi — meaning and English translation
A kesinleşme şerhi is the annotation a Turkish court adds to a judgment confirming that it has become final, with no appeal pending, and is enforceable.
When the appeal period on a Turkish judgment has run out, or an appeal has been decided, the court clerk adds a stamped and signed note stating the date on which the decision became final (kesinleşti). Without it, a divorce decree is still a provisional decision, and a Turkish Nüfus Müdürlüğü will not register the divorce. The annotation usually appears at the foot of the last page or on the reverse, sometimes as a separate sheet.
We translate it as “annotation of finality”. A UK solicitor may be tempted to write “decree absolute”, but that names an English court order, and the translation would then misdescribe the document. Where useful, a translator's note states that the annotation means the judgment is final and enforceable.
A UK family court or register office asked to recognise a Turkish divorce under the Family Law Act 1986 will look for it first; see Turkish divorce decree translation.