Wedding fee penalty for foreign nationals from TİHEK to Çanakkale Municipality

According to the decision of TİHEK, the board launched an ex officio investigation upon the news that the wedding ceremony fee, which was determined as 2 thousand 500 lira for citizens of the Republic of Turkey in the 2025 fee tariff of Çanakkale Municipality in 2024, will be applied as 25 thousand lira for foreign nationals.

In the written opinion received from the municipality within the scope of the investigation, it was stated that in marriages with foreign elements, the documents were confirmed separately through consulates, embassies, governorships or district governorships, since the e-Municipality Marriage Module provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs does not cover foreign nationals.

The municipality argued that these operations required more personnel, time and administrative resources.

In addition, the municipality stated that people who want to marry foreign nationals from different provinces of Türkiye made intense applications due to the fact that wedding services were provided free of charge before 2025, and that this caused the marriage procedures of citizens residing in Çanakkale to be disrupted. The municipality stated that the fee schedule was changed in order to give priority to citizens residing within the service boundaries.

In TİHEK's review, it was emphasized that the additional financial burden that would justify the applied wage difference could not be demonstrated with concrete data.

The board evaluated the charging of additional fees from foreign nationals to the standard wedding fees applied to Turkish citizens as different treatment between people in comparable situations, and decided that the practice violated the prohibition of discrimination on the basis of race and ethnic origin, and that an administrative fine of 256 thousand 357 liras, above the upper limit, should be imposed on Çanakkale Municipality.

From the justification of the decision

In its decision, the Board pointed out that the confirmation procedures stated by the municipality largely consisted of short-term correspondence and telephone or e-mail conversations, and emphasized that it was not demonstrated with concrete data that these created an additional financial burden sufficient to justify the applied fee difference.

In the decision, it was stated that the wage difference applied to foreign nationals constitutes a disproportionate restriction in terms of access to the right to marry.

The board's decision noted that the municipality's defense that the free marriage practice caused disruptions in the transactions of local citizens was not supported by concrete data, and the following was noted:

"The additional marriage ceremony fee regulation determined to be applied to foreign nationals included in the 2026 Fiscal Year Fee Tariff, which was put into effect while maintaining the same quality as the 2025 Fiscal Year Fee Tariff of Çanakkale Municipal Council, constitutes a different treatment that cannot be justified, is disproportionate and not based on a reasonable justification in terms of access to marriage services within the scope of the right to marry and found a family, and in this respect, it is discrimination guaranteed in Article 3 of Law No. 6701." "It was concluded that the ban was violated on the grounds of race and ethnicity."