ABSTRACT
Turkey in essence still holds on to what is, to a relatively large extent, a Bismarckian welfare state system, despite major neoliberal changes, especially in the areas of health care and education, since the early 1980s. The Turkish welfare state system is still marked by a fragmented administrative structure and highly diverse benefit conditions and levels thereof, while partial structural adjustments have been made in the meanwhile. In Turkey, the social security system reveals a slight neoliberal touch, in as much as it denies able-bodied, working-age persons access to social assistance benefits. Hence, this system is highly work-oriented—one could say more ‘productivist'-oriented. As a result, much more than in other parts of the Mediterranean, as well as much more than in e.g. East Asia (where social assistance is on the social security menu, from Japan all the way down to Singapore), people in Turkey have to rely on their families in times of economic hardship. With regard to welfare state system financing, Turkey is a true hot potato. Owing to the high benefits for civil servants and the extremely low retirement age in general, particularly for women, but also very much so for men, the social security system is (still) set to endanger the public financial situation for many years to come. In the meanwhile, the new individual pension system of 2003 was designed to offer new, contribution-based individual pension plans on a compulsory basis. This system was phased in slowly by the year 2019, from covering large employers only to now also covering small employers; it now covers most of the population under 45 years of age. This mandatory individual pension system will help alleviate the overall pressure on welfare state finances to the full extent, starting only about two decades from now.
