The enactment of the EYT regulation on March 3, 2023 raised many questions about who qualifies. Because beneficiaries must meet certain conditions, questions emerged about the specific requirements. In the rest of this article you can find the answer to whether there is a three-year service requirement before September 8, 1999 to fall under EYT, and more details.
What Should Those Who Started Working Before 1999 Do?
With the temporary article added to the Social Insurances and General Health Insurance Law No. 5510, dated May 31, 2006, clarification was provided regarding the granting of retirement or old-age pensions:
TEMPORARY ARTICLE 95 — Those who apply for a pension after the entry into force of this article and who, according to the provisions of the temporary Article 81 of Law No. 506 (paragraph B of the first clause), temporary Article 10 of Law No. 1479 (second clause), temporary Article 2 of Law No. 2925 (paragraph B of the first clause), and temporary Article 205 of Law No. 5434, would be entitled to an old-age or retirement pension provided they meet the non-age conditions in those provisions, shall benefit from old-age or retirement pensions. No retroactive payments shall be made on the basis of this clause and retroactive claims shall not be accepted.
Among those who, under the first paragraph, have applied for and been granted an old-age or retirement pension for the first time, if an employment termination notice was submitted because of the pension application and the person starts work subject to the social security support contribution at the last private-sector workplace within 30 days following the termination date,
the portion of the employer’s share of the social security support contribution corresponding to five percentage points, as specified in subparagraph (a) of the first paragraph of temporary Article 14 of this Law, shall be covered by the Treasury from the date on which work subject to the social security support contribution begins.
If a worker who benefited from the employer share discount of the social security support contribution leaves employment, the employer cannot benefit from that discount again on behalf of that worker. The discount under this paragraph shall be applied provided the other conditions in subparagraph (ı) of the first paragraph of Article 81 of this Law are met. The procedures and principles for the implementation of this paragraph shall be jointly determined by the Ministry and the Ministry of Treasury and Finance.
Removal of the Age Requirement and Retirement under EYT
For civil servants subject to Law No. 5434 who began work before September 8, 1999, retirement ages were previously determined according to the total service up to May 23, 2002, under temporary Article 205 of Law No. 5434. That provision also established service-year thresholds: 20 years of service for women and 25 years for men as the required service for retirement.
With the new law, the age condition in temporary Article 205 of Law No. 5434 was removed, leaving only the service-year requirement. As a result, those who began working and were registered with social security (SGK), with contributions paid, before September 8, 1999—whether they are workers, tradespeople, or civil servants and including those who are still serving as civil servants—are considered within the scope of EYT.
If you have SSK (insured worker) service before September 8, 1999, you fall within EYT regardless of how long those services lasted (and periods such as completed military service do not block eligibility). Without an age requirement and regardless of whether you are a worker or civil servant, if you have completed full 25 years of service (9000 days), including any periods you have purchased through debt-based contributions, you can retire at any time.