Labor and Social Security Minister Vedat Işıkhan stated on Friday that over 67,000 mothers in Türkiye benefited from up to 24 weeks of maternity leave by extending their "maternity reports."
Speaking to an Anadolu Agency (AA) reporter in Turkish Parliament as part of the "duty minister" practice, Işıkhan commented on the ongoing process of extending maternity leave reports through an amendment to the Social Services Law.
He noted that procedures under the law are ongoing, adding that automatic extensions carried out by the system are continuing alongside application-based requests.
Providing details, Işıkhan said, "In this context, 32,214 maternity leave reports for private-sector employees (4A), 1,711 for self-employed workers (4B), and 13,435 for civil servants (4C) were automatically extended. Thus, a total of 47,360 maternity leave reports across all 3 insurance categories were automatically processed by the system without requiring any additional procedures."
"About 43% of eligible mothers have used the additional maternity leave," Işıkhan said, adding that 46,918 workers had become eligible to apply for a maternity leave extension as of July 27.
Additionally, 20,349 insured workers completed applications to extend their maternity leave, alongside the 47,360 mothers whose maternity leave reports were automatically extended. Işıkhan said that report processing had been completed for all insured workers who applied.
"As a result, 43% of mothers eligible to extend their maternity leave upon request chose to do so. Combined with the automatically extended leave, a total of 67,709 mothers have extended their maternity leave, enabling them to use up to 24 weeks of leave," he said.
Meanwhile, Family and Social Services Minister Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş said on Friday the government would continue to strengthen the family institution and support work-life balance through family-centered policies.
In a post on social media, Göktaş said the government would continue to stand by families with every step it takes under the principle of "strong families, strong society."
The maternity leave extension forms part of Türkiye's broader Family and Population Decade (2026–2035), a long-term government strategy launched after the 2025 "Year of the Family" to encourage marriage, address declining birth rates and strengthen support for families through expanded social and workplace policies.
