EYT: retirement without a minimum age for people insured before September 1999 (Law No. 7438, 2023)
Law No. 7438, adopted unanimously by the Grand National Assembly (395 votes cast, 395 in favour) and in force since its publication on 3 March 2023, removes the minimum age that Law No. 4447 of 1999 had imposed on people first insured on or before 8 September 1999, known in Türkiye as « EYT » (those stuck on retirement age). They can now draw an old-age pension as soon as they meet the other conditions of their scheme (years of insurance and contribution days), with no retroactive payment. During the committee examination, the public administration put the number of people expected to retire in 2023 at about 2.2 million and the total eventually covered at about 4.8 million. The law also funds a discount on employer contributions for new pensioners who return to work, and lets former subcontracted public workers keep their jobs once entitled to a pension.
Key points
Votes in favour of Law No. 7438 (unanimous)
395
Final vote, sitting of 28 February 2023 (adopted 1 March) · Observed
Grand National Assembly of Türkiye, record of proceedings (result announced by the chair)[3][4]
395 votes cast, no vote against and no abstention. The detailed electronic list shows 389 votes in favour plus 7 duplicate votes.
Old-age pensions granted without the age condition under EYT
2,600,000
3 March 2023 to 31 December 2025, cumulative · Observed
SGK data reported by Habertürk (« approximately 2.6 million »)[8](secondary source)
Average age of the people expected to retire under the measure
48.5 years
Estimate presented in February 2023 · Estimate
Bill sponsors and public administration representatives before the Plan and Budget Committee[2]
Pension expenditure (% of GDP)
6.1% GDP
2024
- Status: In force since March 3, 2023. Resmî Gazete No. 32121; under its article 3 the law enters into force on the date of publication. The new provisional article 95 applies to pension applications made after that date.[1]
At a glance
Reference text
Sosyal Sigortalar ve Genel Sağlık Sigortası Kanunu ile 375 Sayılı Kanun Hükmünde Kararnamede Değişiklik Yapılmasına Dair Kanun (Law amending the Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Law and Decree-Law No. 375)[1][4]
No. Kanun No. 7438 (Resmî Gazete No. 32121, 3 March 2023) · March 1, 2023
Read the text ↗Carried by
- Recep Tayyip Erdoğan[5]President of the Republic: announced on 28 December 2022 that « there will be no age limit to the use of retirement right » · 2022-2023 · Initiator
- Mustafa Elitaş[2]Deputy chair of the AK Party parliamentary group (Kayseri), first signatory of bill No. 2/4914 · 2023 · Initiator
- Muhammet Emin Akbaşoğlu[2][3]Deputy chair of the AK Party parliamentary group (Çankırı), co-signatory, presented the bill in committee and in the General Assembly · 2023 · Initiator
- Erkan Akçay[2]Deputy chair of the MHP parliamentary group (Manisa), co-signatory of bill No. 2/4914 · 2023 · Initiator
Implementation
- Social Security Institution (Sosyal Güvenlik Kurumu, SGK): receives applications and grants old-age pensions under the three schemes (SSK employees, Bağ-Kur self-employed, Emekli Sandığı civil servants)
- Ministry of Labour and Social Security and Ministry of Treasury and Finance: jointly set the rules of the 5-point employer contribution discount, whose cost is borne by the Treasury
- Public bodies, provincial administrations, municipalities and their companies: decide with each worker transferred from subcontracting whether the employment contract continues after pension entitlement
Stated objective
Remove, for people first insured on or before 8 September 1999, the age condition introduced by Law No. 4447, without changing the other conditions (years of insurance and contribution days), so as to settle « permanently » a demand on the agenda since 1999; encourage registered employment of new pensioners who keep working; and leave it to the parties whether former subcontracted public workers stay in their jobs once entitled to a pension.[2][3]
According to the explanatory memorandum of bill No. 2/4914 and the statements of its sponsors in the Plan and Budget Committee
People expected to retire in 2023 thanks to the removal of the age condition
2,200,000
2023 · Public administration representatives before the Plan and Budget Committee (« approximately 2.2 million »)[2]
People eventually entitled to retire under the measure
4,800,000
2023 and following years · Public administration representatives before the Plan and Budget Committee (« approximately 4.8 million »)[2]
Main measures
- New provisional article 95 of Law No. 5510: people who will receive an old-age pension under the transitional rules of the former SSK (Law 506, prov. art. 81-B), Bağ-Kur (Law 1479, prov. art. 10), agricultural workers’ (Law 2925, prov. art. 2-B) and Emekli Sandığı (Law 5434, prov. art. 205) schemes receive it « if they meet the other conditions apart from age ».[1]
- Scope: people who started working under the invalidity, old-age and survivors’ insurance on or before 8 September 1999, and, according to the explanatory memorandum, those who started later but whose insurance start date was moved back before that date through contribution buy-backs (borçlanma) allowed by law.[2]
- Other conditions unchanged: years of insurance and contribution days stay those of the transitional rules (for SSK employees, between 5,000 and 5,975 days depending on the date of entry, as the sponsors stated in the General Assembly). No retroactive payment is made and no retroactive right can be claimed.[1][3]
- Return to work: if a new EYT pensioner starts working again at the last private-sector workplace within 30 days of leaving it (10 days in the bill), the Treasury pays 5 points of the employer’s share of the social security support contribution (SGDP); the discount is used only once per insured person.[1][3]
- Article 2 repeals the provisions of Decree-Law No. 375 (provisional articles 23 and 24) that required public bodies, municipalities and their companies to terminate the contracts of workers transferred from subcontracting to permanent status once they became entitled to a pension; continuing or ending the contract is left to the parties.[1][2]
In data
Estimate presented in February 2023 for the year 2023
| Scheme | Expected retirements in 2023 (estimate) |
|---|---|
| 4/a: employees (former SSK) (« approximately 1.7 million ») | 1,700,000 |
| 4/c: civil servants (former Emekli Sandığı) | 496,000 |
| 4/b: self-employed (former Bağ-Kur) | 89,000 |
Scale starts at 0 · Figures given by the public administration in the Plan and Budget Committee; their sum (about 2.3 million) is rounded to « approximately 2.2 million » in the report. About 2.6 million pensions were actually granted under EYT from March 2023 to the end of 2025 (SGK data reported by the press).
Pension expenditure (% of GDP)
6.1% GDP
2024
Employment rate, ages 60-64
32.2%
2025
Senior employment rate (55-64)
38.1%
Q2 2026
Relative median income of people aged 65+
0.82ratio
2025
Timeline
Law No. 3774 abolishes the age condition for retirement[2]
Insured people can retire on a number of contribution days and/or years of insurance alone, whatever their age.
Law No. 4447 (of 25 August 1999) brings back an age condition[2]
People first insured from 9 September 1999 must meet an age condition; for those insured before, the age and/or contribution days required are phased in according to their date of entry. This is the origin of the « EYT » group.
Law No. 4759 redraws the phasing after a Constitutional Court ruling[2]
According to the bill’s sponsors in committee, the Constitutional Court had called for a more reasonable, fair and proportionate phasing of contribution days; Law No. 4759 set the graduated requirements still in force in 2023.
Opposition members table their own EYT bills[6][7]
Among them bill No. 2/4761 by Garo Paylan (HDP, Diyarbakır), registered on 2 December 2022, and bill No. 2/4804 by Sera Kadıgil, Ahmet Şık (Istanbul) and Barış Atay Mengüllüoğlu (Hatay), registered on 28 December 2022; both were referred to the Plan and Budget Committee.
- Announced
President Erdoğan announces that no age limit will apply[5]
Statement to the press at the Presidential Complex: a step meeting « the retirement age expectations of the employees who started to work before 1999 ».
- Under debate
Bill No. 2/4914 submitted to the Grand National Assembly[2]
Tabled by the group deputy chairs of the AK Party and the MHP, the leader of the BBP and 207 other members; lead committee: Plan and Budget Committee.
The Plan and Budget Committee adopts the bill without amendment (report No. 405)[2]
31st sitting, with ministries, the SGK, trade unions, employers’ organisations and EYT associations; twelve opposition members attach dissenting opinions. The report is dated 6 February 2023.
Kahramanmaraş earthquakes, before the plenary debate[3]
The earthquakes hit eleven provinces; the bill reaches the General Assembly on 28 February 2023, where several speakers open with tributes to the victims.
- Adopted
Adopted by the General Assembly: 395 votes cast, 395 in favour[3][4][1]
Open electronic vote at the end of the 66th sitting (opened on 28 February, closed at 00:31); the Official Gazette gives 1 March 2023 as the date of adoption. A government-majority amendment extended from 10 to 30 days the period for returning to work that opens the employer discount.
- In force
Published in the Official Gazette and in force[1]
Resmî Gazete No. 32121; under its article 3 the law enters into force on the date of publication. The new provisional article 95 applies to pension applications made after that date.
About 2.6 million old-age pensions granted under EYT by the end of 2025[8](secondary source)
According to SGK data reported by the press, from 3 March 2023 to 31 December 2025 about 2.6 million people were granted an old-age pension without the age condition, and about 660,000 others after reaching the required age.
The debate
Citoyen takes no position: arguments are reported as their authors put them.
According to its supporters
- Muhammet Emin Akbaşoğlu (AK Party) says the law removes only one of the three conditions in force since 1999 (age), adds no new condition and no new graduated contribution rule, and keeps a promise made in December 2021; he puts the people concerned at about 5 million, about 2.25 million of them in 2023.[3]
- İsmail Faruk Aksu (MHP) argues that Law No. 4447 imposed an age condition that did not exist when these people started work, and that the bill ends this situation for everyone covered by SSK, Bağ-Kur and Emekli Sandığı alike.[3]
- Before the committee, the sponsors and the public administration argued that the system can bear the cost: the SGK’s revenue covered 96.2% of its spending, its deficit was 0.30% of national income (the lowest in twenty years), and the young population offers a demographic window.[2]
- The sponsors present the employer discount (between 500 and 3,753 lira a month per worker, according to them) as a way to keep qualified staff in firms and to support registered employment, and the end of compulsory termination as letting former subcontracted public workers choose to keep working.[2][3]
According to its opponents
- Veli Ağbaba (CHP) says the law solves the problem only in part and creates new victims: people who had bought back periods expecting 5,000 contribution days face a graduated requirement of up to 5,975 days, while apprentices and interns, people without Bağ-Kur registration, partial retirement and those affected by the 1999 earthquakes are left out.[3]
- The İYİ Party (Erhan Usta, Durmuş Yılmaz) calls the law long overdue and timed for the elections, recalling that the President had long refused it, and criticises the impact assessment, handed to members late and revised during the committee debate.[3]
- Opposition members in committee called the single cut-off date of 8 September 1999 unfair to people who missed it by a short time and asked for a graduated transition for those insured afterwards; they also pointed to the gap in contribution days between SSK (5,000 to 5,975) and Bağ-Kur or Emekli Sandığı (7,200 for women, 9,000 for men).[2]
- Committee members also objected that the 5-point discount covers only the employer’s share and only a return to the same workplace, which they saw as restricting freedom to work, and warned about the workload of SGK staff handling millions of applications.[2]
Indicators to watch
- Pension spending · EurostatSee the card →
- Employment rate of people aged 60-64 · EurostatSee the card →
- Senior employment rate (55-64) · OECDSee the card →
- Effective age of labour-market exit · OECDno Citoyen card yet
- Relative median income of people aged 65 and over · EurostatSee the card →
- Budget balance · OECDSee the card →
- New old-age pensions granted and SGK revenue and spending · Sosyal Güvenlik Kurumu (SGK)no Citoyen card yet
Sources
- [1]Sosyal Sigortalar ve Genel Sağlık Sigortası Kanunu ile 375 Sayılı Kanun Hükmünde Kararnamede Değişiklik Yapılmasına Dair Kanun, Kanun No. 7438, Kabul Tarihi: 1/3/2023 –Resmî Gazete, Sayı 32121, March 3, 2023
- [2]Sıra Sayısı 405: Kanun Teklifi (2/4914) ile Plan ve Bütçe Komisyonu Raporu (genel gerekçe, madde gerekçeleri, komisyon raporu), TBMM Tutanak Dergisi 27. Dönem 6. Yasama Yılı 66. Birleşim ekinde –Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi, February 6, 2023
- [3]TBMM Tutanak Dergisi, 27. Dönem 6. Yasama Yılı, 66'ncı Birleşim –Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi, February 28, 2023
- [4]Açık Oylama Sonuçları, 66'ncı Birleşim: (S. Sayısı: 405) Kanun Teklifine verilen oyların sonucu –Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi, February 28, 2023
- [5]“There will be no age limit to the use of retirement right” –Directorate of Communications, Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye, December 28, 2022
- [6]Sosyal Sigortalar ve Genel Sağlık Sigortası Kanununda Değişiklik Yapılmasına Dair Kanun Teklifi (2/4761), Garo Paylan –Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi, December 2, 2022
- [7]Sosyal Sigortalar ve Genel Sağlık Sigortası Kanunu, Sendikalar ve Toplu İş Sözleşmesi Kanunu ile 375 Sayılı Kanun Hükmünde Kararnamede Değişiklik Yapılmasına İlişkin Kanun Teklifi (2/4804) –Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi, December 28, 2022
- [8]EYT yasası ile 2,6 milyon kişi emekli oldu –Habertürk (Ahmet Kıvanç), March 3, 2026 · secondary source