Rule
TRNC law recognises a defined category of "Sosyal Güvenlik Anlaşması" (Social Security Agreement): bilateral or multilateral agreements approved by the TRNC Assembly, together with their implementing arrangements. The Ministry of Labour and Social Security has general statutory authority to conclude such agreements with the countries where TRNC-insured persons work, or with the countries of foreign nationals working in the TRNC (Social Security Law No. 73/2007, Article 119). This concept is used elsewhere in the same Law, including as a condition for a limited insurance exemption for some short-term foreign assignees (Article 6(1)(E)). Law No. 26/2026 — ratifying a 19 November 2025 TRNC-Türkiye Cooperation Agreement in Labour, Employment and Social Security — is NOT itself a Social Security Agreement in this defined sense: it is a government-to-government cooperation and coordination framework which itself names "implementation of social security agreements" as one of its own separate areas of cooperation, implying a distinct agreement it helps administer rather than being that agreement.[1][2]
Exceptions
- This rule does not state, and must not be read to imply: any list of countries having a concluded Social Security Agreement with the TRNC; that Türkiye definitely has such an agreement; which nationalities the Foreigners' Work Permits Regulation's four-year exit rule (Article 17(3)) currently binds; or that Law 26/2026 creates individual social-security coordination rights. All of these remain unresolved and are not addressed by any other published record.