Nüfus cüzdanı — meaning and English translation

For most of the twentieth century a Turkish citizen's identity document was a small folded booklet, blue for men and pink for women, called the nüfus cüzdanı. It recorded name, parents, date and place of birth, registration details, blood group, religion on older issues, and marital status, and was updated by hand and stamp at the Nüfus Müdürlüğü. The chip-based T.C. kimlik kartı has been replacing it, but the booklets remain valid until exchanged and turn up constantly in family files.

We render nüfus cüzdanı as “identity booklet” and kimlik kartı as “identity card”, keeping the Turkish name in brackets, so that the reader knows which document was presented. Every handwritten annotation and stamp on the booklet is translated, because they are the part that changes.

The Turkish Consulate accepts either for consular acts; UK bodies see it mainly as proof of identity alongside a passport. Details are on our Turkish ID card translation page.