Glossary
SGK — meaning and English translation
SGK (Sosyal Güvenlik Kurumu) is Türkiye's Social Security Institution, which records employment contributions, pays pensions and runs the state health insurance.
The Sosyal Güvenlik Kurumu was formed by merging the three former funds for employees, the self-employed and civil servants. Every insured person has an SGK number and a record of contribution days that drives entitlement to a pension, and the institution also administers general health insurance. The UK and Türkiye have had a social security convention in force since 1961, which allows periods in one country to be taken into account in the other and underpins the yurtdışı borçlanması scheme for citizens who worked in the UK.
We render it as “Social Security Institution (SGK)”, the institution's own English name. Its documents keep their Turkish names in brackets: service record (hizmet dökümü), contribution statement, pension entitlement letter.
The Department for Work and Pensions and the Home Office meet SGK records as evidence of employment history or a Turkish pension. The scheme for buying back UK years is under SGK yurtdışı borçlanması.