Although my son has a Turkish mother we chose not to get him a Turkish Passport as it would mean him going into the Army for at least 6 months at some point and I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy…..ok, well maybe my worst one.
So that has meant that every year we have to get him a Residence Permit which apart from the cost and the hassle has been within our capabilities thus far.
However, this year the rules changed and because he was born in Spain and has a Spanish Birth Certificate with a British Passport we were told we needed to get the Birth Certificate translated from Spanish to Turkish. So I had to spend the day searching for a Spanish Translator. Oh joy!
This was the scene as I left my apartment to begin my Paper Chasing extravaganza.
I couldn’t find the Spanish Translators office in the town centre and they weren’t answering their phone so took some photos of Tufan Dagistanli’s Birds, so at least I could get some nice photos from the day out.
Here they are in a fountain too. Every one is apparently unique although don’t ask me to prove that.
Maybe you could play a game of trying to spot two the same. I’m afraid that there is no prize up for grabs though.
I drove around some more and by this time I was getting a little bit pissed off.
So I found a place to have some food to calm me down.
I do like the Ev Yemekleri (Home Cooking) places they have in Turkey.
Once my stomach was happy I regrouped and called the office who then did answer and helped me to find their place.
However, after I had got the Birth Certificate translated my sons mother called me and said that that was not going to be enough to get the Residence Permit at which point my eyes went as wide as the Yellow Frog’s.
After much research later it which included talking to the Spanish Embassy in Turkey it turned out that I needed to go to Spain to get a Lawyer who speaks Turkish to translate the document and give it his seal of approval otherwise I wouldn’t be able to renew my sons residence permit.
During this time I was studying quite a bit of what Kate of Gaia and other were saying about the Legal Name and this just made my blood boil even more.
We were left wondering how I was going to get a Spanish Lawyer who speaks Turkish and then find the plane fare to go there for this fiasco .
A couple of days later I got a call from a friend who had been at the Residence Permit offices and someone who works there was looking for a Scotsman with a Kilt to represent Antalya at the Immigrants Day celebrations which were a week or two away.
I gave him a call and arranged a meeting with him about it because like any good Scotsman abroad, I had a Kilt in my wardrobe.
When I went there I told him about the problem I had with my sons residence permit and he went for a wee walk. Five minutes later he returned and the problem had miraculously disappeared…as long as I would wear a skirt with no knickers to meet the Town Mayor. Amazing that, eh?
So, of course, I agreed but not without telling him how ridiculous the cyst-em is and he also agreed. I think we are going to get on well on our tour around the officials offices.
The Photos
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