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getting U.S. marriage recognized in Turkey (Ankara)

I'm a U.S. citizen married to a Turkish citizen. We sort of moved here at the last minute - my husband decided very late in the game to apply for re-admission to medical school here. We only had a few weeks to prepare for the move! The Nufus Office in Kizilay wants:
1. U.S. certificate of marriage translated and notarized (done - simple!)

2. this document then notarized at the American Consulate
ROAD BLOCK!!! the American Consulate claims they don't notarize such documents; won't give us a letter saying "The American Consulate does not notarize such documents"

3. bring this document to the Foreign Ministry for approval; we went here without the American Consulate notarization since they told us they don't do this.
ROAD BLOCK!!! they want it notarized by the American Consulate -- every other country's consulate notarizes marriage documents.

Nobody at Nufus Office or Foreign Ministry will call and talk to "Ahmet Bey" at the American Consulate because "he is not my correspondent". They all say "logically, the Consulate should approve such documents". Well, yeah, but we're in Turkey and logic flies out the window. =/ Does anyone have any suggestions? =D Any similar experiences we can learn from? =D

Thanks!

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