Turkey pension system under scrutiny over unfair calculations and delayed reforms

Social security expert Emin Yılmaz warned that Turkey's pension calculation scheme creates major inequities. He explained that benefits are computed using three different formulas based on the date of first insurance contribution, resulting in situations where a worker who paid 3,600 premium days over ten years receives the same monthly pension as someone with 9,000 premium days over twenty‑five years because of the Treasury‑supported base‑payment mechanism. Yılmaz called for a comprehensive overhaul of the system, linking benefits to actual contributions and to inflation and living‑cost controls.

At the same time, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security has not advanced a phased‑early‑retirement law. Minister Vedat Işıkhan reiterated that the existing eligibility criteria for pension – the required premium days and age – remain unchanged and that no legislative proposal for a “kademeli emeklilik” has been adopted. The lack of progress leaves many workers, especially those who entered the labour market after 1999, awaiting reforms.