22.09.2025 15:20
Minister of Labor and Social Security Vedat Işıkhan provided a timeline regarding President Erdoğan's election promise to reduce the premium day count for Bağ-Kur tradesmen from 9,000 to 7,200. Işıkhan stated, "Let me express that we have started our work on this matter. We, as the ministry, are working to ensure that our President gives the good news of 7,200 to our tradesmen before 2028."
The Minister of Labor and Social Security, Vedat Işıkhan, provided a date regarding the reduction of the number of premium days for tradesmen from 9,000 days to 7,200 days during Ensonhaber’s YouTube broadcast.
Regarding the reduction of the number of premium days for Bağ-Kur tradesmen from 9,000 to 7,200, which is one of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's election promises, Işıkhan stated, "This is also a topic on our agenda. Of course, reducing from 9,000 days to 7,200 means recognizing 20 years of retirement instead of 25 years. Our esteemed President made such a promise in the last election. This promise is, of course, a directive for us. We will start working on this with our Ministry of Finance. Before 2028, we hope that our esteemed President will announce the good news of 7,200 to our tradesmen, and we need to work together with our Ministry of Finance to remove this from the agenda. However, we need to determine whether we will include only small tradesmen or everyone when we say tradesmen. We need to evaluate and define this scope. Because we must accept that we see our Bağkur tradesmen struggling, especially in terms of premium payments. Our premium collection rate is a bit low compared to our other SSK collections. Let me express that we have started our work on this. We aim to finalize this issue in the coming months, that is, in the first or second quarter of 2026," he said.
TESK PRESIDENT HAD MADE A CALL
In recent months, Bendevi Palandöken, the President of the Confederation of Turkish Tradesmen and Craftsmen (TESK), stated that the promise of premium days given to tradesmen and craftsmen should now be implemented, emphasizing that tradesmen and craftsmen waiting for retirement by filling their premium days should only make health premium payments.
THERE IS A GAP BETWEEN SSK AND BAĞKUR
While 7,200 days of premium is sufficient to retire from SSK, for Bağkur members, this period is 9,000 days. This means that tradesmen have to pay approximately 5 more years of premiums. For many years, Bağkur members have been trying to close this gap by switching to SSK before retirement.