Many conveniences are provided in our country under the name of service consolidation. Service consolidation takes into account work periods covered by the Turkish Republic Pension Fund (Emekli Sandığı), the Social Insurance Institution (Sosyal Sigortalar Kurumu) and the Social Insurance Institution for Tradesmen and Other Self-Employed Workers (Bağ-Kur). The service consolidation process combines insured periods across different social security institutions in Turkey to ensure continuous social security coverage.
In service consolidation calculations, each year is accepted as 360 days and each month is calculated as 30 days. When totaling service periods, credited service time (itibari hizmet), periods without premiums, and overlapping periods that fall on the same dates are not added. There are also situations where service consolidation cannot be applied. These include cases related to disability (malullük), death, work accidents, and occupational diseases arising from the person’s job; service consolidation procedures are not applied in these circumstances.
Civil servants and teachers are entitled to receive service credit points for military service either during their tenure or before appointment. This is called military service consolidation. When calculating the service credit points for teachers’ military service, the lowest-ranked school in the province where the military service was performed is used as the basis. To have military service consolidated, a formal request must be submitted to the employer. For teachers, the request for military service consolidation must be submitted to the school where they work.
Below is a sample petition you can use to request consolidation of military service:
TO THE DISTRICT DIRECTORATE OF NATIONAL EDUCATION
I am serving at …………… Province, ……………… District, ………….. Primary School. I completed my military service between 30.11.2011 and 30.05.2012 in …………. Province, ……………………. District, ………………………………………………………………………………………. I request that this period be added to my current service and that military service consolidation be carried out.
Respectfully submitted for your information.
Address: Name Surname
Attachment: Discharge Certificate (1 copy)
In this petition, the teacher requesting military service consolidation should state the province, district and the specific school where they are currently employed. Then they should indicate the province and location where the military service was performed and attach one copy of the discharge certificate to the petition. Teachers should not address the petition directly to the Directorate of National Education, because the document will not be delivered directly there. The petition requesting military service consolidation should be written to the school where the person holds their post and submitted there. The school administration will forward the petition and supporting documents to the relevant directorates.
Military service debt (askerlik borçlanması) refers to including the time spent as a privates under arms or in reserve officer school—either entirely or partially—within insured service by paying the corresponding contribution premiums.
Documents Required for Service Consolidation
The documents typically requested for military service consolidation or for general service consolidation include the following:
- Service consolidation petition (Hizmet Birleştirme Dilekçesi).
- Service consolidation form (Hizmet Birleştirme Formu).
- Photocopy of the identity card (Nüfus cüzdanı).
- Photocopy of the SSK insurance registration card (Sigorta Sicil Kartı).
- Photocopy of the Emekli Sandığı discharge document for reserve officers (Yedek Subaylık Terhis Belgesi).
- Bağ-Kur registration number or service certificate.
- Photocopies of service certificates from other funds or bank pension funds as applicable.
An important consideration in consolidating military service is whether the military service was performed before or after entering civil service. For consolidation purposes, it makes no difference whether the military service occurred prior to or after civil service: the time spent in the military is reflected in credit calculations in either case. However, for that period to count toward retirement, it must be included through borrowing (borçlanma) and the required contributions must be paid to the Social Security Institution (Sosyal Güvenlik Kurumu).