Extended Summary

Until the first Social Security Reform in Turkiye (09/09/1999 Law No. 4447),
women could retire at 38 and men at 43. With this reform, the retirement age
requirement was gradually increased to 58 for women and 60 for men for those
who were insured on or before 08/09/1999. This age requirement was increased
to 58 for women and 60 for men for those who were insured on or after
09/09/1999.
Against increasing the age requirement, the community that had insurance
for the first time before the reform, that is, on and before 08/09/1999, called itself
Those Hindered From Retirement Due To Age (in Turkish abbreviation EYTs).
EYTs organized through social media and then through associations and struggled
to qualify for retirement under the conditions before the Reform. As a result of the
struggles of EYTs, Law No. 7438 (or EYT Law) was enacted and came into force
on 03/2023, and the EYT Law only covered those insured on or before
08/09/1999. According to the EYT Law, if a person was insured for the first time
on or before 08/09/1999 and worked uninterruptedly, that person is entitled to
retire at the age of 38 for women and at 43 for men. However, the person who
became insured for the first time on or after 09/09/1999 is entitled to retire at the
age of 58 and 60 respectively. As a result, there is a difference in retirement age of
up to 20 years for women and 17 years for men due to being insured one day
before because of the EYT Law. This shows that there are significant differences
in entitlement to social security benefits even within the same age group (cohort).
After the EYT Law was enacted, those who were not in the scope of the EYT
Law, began to emphasize that they were seeking “justice” in retirement by
following similar paths to EYT members.
As it is known, social security is a concept known for its intra- and intergenerational solidarity principle. For example, the intra-generational solidarity feature
includes the fact that of two (peer) insured people who contribute against the same
social risk, the one exposed to this risk benefits from the social security benefit, while
the other continues to contribute. Because the second insured may also be exposed
to the same risk. For example, if one of the two insured people who contributes for
unemployment risk becomes unemployed, the social security system will give
unemployment benefit to this insured; the other insured will continue to contributes
in this regard. In this study, the subject is the risk of old age, and it is emphasized
that one of the two insured people in the same age group is considered old
depending on the date of first insurance, while the other is not considered old.
In this context, the aim of the study is to explain the reactions of those in
the same cohort to the EYT Law in terms of intra-generational solidarity or
conflict through the comments on www.eksisozluk.com. There are some reasons
for choosing Eksi Sozluk in this research. Firstly Eksi Sozluk can be defined as
Turkiye’s oldest interactive dictionary, information sharing, and social media site.
This dictionary was established on February 15, 1999. In this respect, Twitter,
which is frequently used in Turkiye, is much older than Facebook and Instagram.
Also the content written on the Eksi Sozluk platform is more transparent and
reliable compared to content on other social media sites. Lastly this platform is one
of the most popular websites in the country that appeals to different age groups. In
2022, the Platform received over 8.1 billion views (Ekşi Sözlük, 2022).
In the study; among the 103 titles written about EYT in Eksi Sozluk, 10 titles
opened between 26-29th December 2022, directly emphasizing “intra-generational
solidarity” or “intra-generational conflict”, and the most liked entries (comments)
among these titles were examined by content analysis method. This shows that
approximately one in every ten titles is opened based on intra-generational
solidarity/conflict. Additionally, the number of entries in these titles is 1067, and
the rate of entries focusing on the subject of study is more than 7.7% of total
entries in all titles.
According to the findings of the study, nine out of ten titles were opened
with an opinion directly opposing the EYT Law. In addition, 17 (15,7%) of the
entries discussed under the titles support the EYT Law; 85 (78,7%) of them
express an opinion against the EYT Law. Again, in the analysis, the entries were
combined under 10 main themes and 1 suggestion theme. The two most discussed
themes were “intra-generational conflict-solidarity” and
“Fairness/Justice/Injustice/Equality/Inequality/Right”.