UK Pension Records and Turkish Social Security
How the Turkey-UK social security agreement treats UK insurance periods, how SGK receives documents, and what sources say on translation and apostille.
Under the Turkey-UK Social Security Agreement, the Social Security Institution (SGK) lets you choose how an old-age or survivor's (dul) pension is calculated. You may have your premium payment periods in both countries combined, with the pension paid in proportion to the time completed under the paying country's legislation. Alternatively, you may have each country pay a pension under its own legislation without combining service.
How UK periods count in Türkiye
Where a benefit depends on completing an insurance period, SGK counts periods completed under the other country's legislation as if they were its own, provided the periods do not overlap. If you still do not qualify, the parties also combine periods from a third country with which they have signed social security agreements, again provided there is no overlap. Your first date of starting work in the other country is also taken into account when your entitlement is assessed. A pensioner who earned an old-age pension through work in one country keeps receiving it after moving residence to the other country.
A service record (hizmet belgesi) issued by a Turkish mission abroad or by an agreement country's insurance institution matters for one definition. Periods recorded there with no compulsory premium deduction from earnings count as "short-term work" (kısa süreli çalışmaya tabi işler). For a service purchase (borçlanma) or pension request, you fill in and sign the required documents properly. You then hand them to the relevant SGK unit in person or post them from Türkiye or abroad.
If you are insured in an agreement country and staying in Türkiye, you present the health aid certificate (sağlık yardım belgesi) from your insurer. You present it to the SGK provincial directorate or social security centre where you stay or live. You can obtain a new certificate yourself, or the SGK office can request it from the foreign insurer if you apply. Retirees living permanently in Türkiye receive health benefits for the period recorded in the documents issued in their name, until notice arrives that cover has ended.
Translation and apostille of UK records
The SGK pages quoted state a Turkish translation requirement for foreign-language documents in one context: health aid certificates for people going to an agreement country to study. They do not settle whether UK pension records need a translation or an apostille for a pension claim. Confirm this with SGK before sending documents. SGK decides whether it accepts them.
If an apostille is requested, the Legalisation Office of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office issues it, and the route depends on the document. A document from a UK government department must be signed by an official. Public registry documents such as birth, marriage or death certificates can be legalised, but General Register Office documents cannot get an e-Apostille. Other documents must first be certified by a UK public official such as a UK notary or solicitor. A certified copy made for legalisation must come from a UK-based notary. You apply online for a paper apostille or an e-Apostille. The e-Apostille requires PDF files electronically signed by a UK notary or solicitor.