Turkish social security rules determine retirement status via last seven years of service

Under Law No. 2829, Turkish social security regulations dictate that individuals with service periods in multiple statuses—such as Emekli Sandığı and SSK (4A)—are retired based on their most frequent status during their last seven years of actual service. To qualify for a specific status, a worker must have completed at least 1,260 days (3.5 years) within that category during the final 2,520 days of their employment.

In a specific case involving a worker who transitioned from civil service to SSK, it was noted that the individual could not retire under the Emekli Sandığı status because they had not met the required age criteria or the 9,000-day premium requirement at the time of application. Consequently, because the individual had more premium days in the SSK category during the critical seven-year window, the Social Security Institution (SGK) processed the retirement under SSK regulations.

Experts emphasize that the SGK does not automatically assign retirement statuses; rather, processes are carried out based on the written requests and specific service histories of the insured individuals.