23.04.2026 01:00
The law passed in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey extended the maternity leave for female civil servants to 24 weeks. Additionally, the paid maternity leave for female workers was increased from 8 weeks to 16 weeks.
A bill that increases maternity leave for women and includes a social media ban for those under 15 years of age has been passed in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.
MATERNITY LEAVE FOR FEMALE CIVIL SERVANTS INCREASED TO 24 WEEKS
With the amendment made to the Civil Servants Law, the paid postnatal leave granted to female civil servants will be increased from 8 weeks to 16 weeks. For a female civil servant who documents with a medical report that her health condition is suitable for work, the period she can transfer from her pre-birth leave to post-birth leave upon her request will be increased by one week.
According to the regulation, female civil servants will be granted a total of 24 weeks of maternity leave, 8 weeks before birth and 16 weeks after birth. However, a female civil servant who documents with a medical report that her health condition is suitable for work up to 8 weeks before the expected birth date may work in her institution up to 2 weeks before birth upon her request.
AIM TO ENCOURAGE BECOMING FOSTER PARENTS
To encourage civil servants to become foster parents, to ensure that more children receive care within a family environment by increasing the number of foster families, to strengthen the role of foster care within the child protection mechanism, and to support the mutual adaptation process between the foster family and the child, a civil servant who becomes a foster parent for one or more children together with their spouse or individually will be granted 10 days of leave upon request after the date the child is placed with the foster family.
MATERNITY LEAVE FOR FEMALE WORKERS ALSO INCREASED
According to the amendment made to the Labor Law by the act, the paid postnatal leave for female workers will be increased from 8 weeks to 16 weeks. Thus, the female worker will have a total of 24 weeks of paid leave, 8 weeks before birth and 16 weeks after birth. However, if her health condition is suitable, the period she can work before birth upon her request with a doctor's approval will be reduced from 3 weeks to 2 weeks.
A worker who becomes a foster parent for one or more children together with their spouse or individually will be granted 10 days of unpaid leave upon request after the date the child is placed.
A female worker will be granted unpaid leave upon request after the completion of the 24-week period, or 26 weeks in the case of multiple pregnancies. With the amendment made to the law, the paid leave granted to a worker in case their spouse gives birth will be increased from 5 days to 10 days.
SOCIAL MEDIA BAN FOR THOSE UNDER 15
In the Law on Regulation of Publications on the Internet and Combating Crimes Committed Through These Publications, definitions for "game," "game distributor," "game developer," and "game platform" are being introduced.
A regulation has been made in the provision titled "removal of content and blocking of access," which was annulled by the Constitutional Court. Accordingly, social network providers will not be able to provide services to children under the age of 15 and will be obliged to take necessary measures, including age verification, to prevent the provision of this service. Social network providers will take necessary measures to provide differentiated services specific to children who have turned 15. The measures taken in this scope will be published on the social network provider's own website.
Social network providers will provide clear, understandable, and user-friendly parental control tools. Parental control tools will include mechanisms for controlling account settings, subjecting fee-based transactions such as purchases, rentals, and paid memberships to parental permission or approval, and monitoring and limiting usage time.
Social network providers will be obliged to take measures to block deceptive advertisements.
A social network provider with more than 10 million daily accesses from Turkey will immediately implement the requirements of a decision given in cases where delay is detrimental, within one hour at the latest, and will take all necessary measures to ensure that publications subject to decisions for removal of content or blocking of access given under the Law are not published on its own website.
BANDWIDTH THROTTLING PENALTY TO BE INCREASED
If the obligation is not fulfilled within 30 days from the notification of the administrative fine, the President of the Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK) will prohibit real and legal persons who are resident taxpayers in Turkey from placing new advertisements with the relevant social network provider; new contracts cannot be established and money transfers related to this cannot be made within this scope. If the obligation is not fulfilled within 3 months from the date the advertisement ban decision is given, the President of BTK may apply to the criminal court of peace for a 50% throttling of the social network provider's internet traffic bandwidth.
If the said obligation is not fulfilled within 30 days from the implementation of the judge's decision accepting the application, the President of BTK may apply to the criminal court of peace for throttling the social network provider's internet traffic bandwidth up to 90%. In the decision the judge will give upon the second application, they may determine a lower rate, not less than 50%, also taking into account the nature of the service provided.
Appeals can be made against these decisions by the President of BTK. Decisions given by the judge will be sent to BTK for notification to access providers. The requirements of the decisions will be fulfilled by access providers immediately upon notification, within 4 hours at the latest. If the obligation is fulfilled, the advertisement ban will be lifted and the judge's decisions will automatically become null and void. BTK will notify access providers to terminate the intervention on internet traffic bandwidth.
This provision will enter into force 6 months after the publication date of the regulation.
GAME PLATFORMS TO OPEN REPRESENTATIVE OFFICES IN TURKEY
With the law, regulations regarding game platforms have also been made.
Accordingly, a game platform will not be able to offer games that are not properly rated; however, it may offer unrated games provided they are rated according to the highest age criterion. A game platform will be obliged to remove content that is not properly rated, provided that the responsibilities and obligations arising from being a content or hosting provider are reserved.
A foreign-origin game platform with more than 100,000 daily accesses from Turkey will be obliged to designate a real or legal person representative in Turkey to ensure the fulfillment of notifications, notices, or requests to be sent by BTK, the Access Providers Association, judicial or administrative authorities, and other obligations within the scope of the regulation, and to notify BTK of the information regarding this representative. The game platform will include the representative's contact information on its website in a way that is easily visible and directly accessible.
The game platform will provide clear, understandable, and user-friendly parental control tools.
Parental control tools will include mechanisms for monitoring account settings and subjecting fee-based transactions such as purchases, rentals, and paid subscriptions to parental permission or approval.
The BTK may request explanations from the gaming platform regarding its compliance with this regulation, including corporate structure, information systems, and data processing mechanisms directly related to the implementation of this regulation. The gaming platform will be obliged to provide the information and documents requested by the BTK immediately and within a period not exceeding 15 days, as determined by the BTK.
The procedures and principles regarding the implementation of this regulation, the obligations that the gaming platform must comply with, and the grading according to age criteria will be determined by the regulation issued by the BTK.
HEAVY MONETARY PENALTIES ARE COMING
The BTK will notify gaming platforms that fail to fulfill their obligations within this scope and the obligations specified in the regulation issued by the Institution. If the obligation subject to the notification is not fulfilled within 30 days from the notification, an administrative monetary penalty ranging from 1 million Turkish liras to 10 million Turkish liras may be imposed on the gaming platform by the President of the BTK. If the obligation subject to the notification is not fulfilled within 30 days from the service of the imposed administrative monetary penalty, an additional administrative monetary penalty ranging from 10 million Turkish liras to 30 million Turkish liras may be imposed once more. The amount of the administrative monetary penalty will be determined by considering the nature and severity of the violation, its impact on users, or the damage incurred.
If the obligation subject to the notification is not fulfilled within 30 days from the service of the second administrative monetary penalty, the President of the BTK may apply to the criminal court of peace for a 30% reduction in the internet traffic bandwidth of the gaming platform. If the obligation subject to the notification is not fulfilled within 30 days from the implementation of the judge's decision regarding the acceptance of the application, the President of the BTK may apply to the criminal court of peace for a reduction of up to 50% in the internet traffic bandwidth of the gaming platform. In the decision on the second application, the judge may determine a lower rate, not less than 30%, taking into account the nature of the service provided.
Appeals against these decisions may be filed by the President of the BTK in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code. The decisions given by the judge will be sent to the BTK for notification to access providers. The requirements of the decisions will be fulfilled by access providers immediately and within 4 hours at the latest from the notification. If the obligation subject to the notification is fulfilled, one-fourth of the imposed administrative monetary penalties will be collected, and the judge's decisions will automatically become null and void. The BTK will notify access providers to terminate the intervention on internet traffic bandwidth.
This provision will enter into force 6 months after the publication date of the regulation.