There is no provision in the Labour Law about which days are national holidays and general holidays in Turkey. For this reason, it is necessary to refer to the provisions of the Law No. 2429 on National Holidays and General Holidays in Turkey, which is related to the specification of national holidays and general holidays. According to Article 1 of the aforementioned law, 29 October, the day the Republic was proclaimed, is a national holiday. The holiday starts at 13:00 on 28 October and continues on 29 October. Therefore, the total holiday period is 1.5 days.
Article 2 of the Law also mentions three types of holidays and holidays. Accordingly, 23 April National Sovereignty and Children’s Day, 19 May Commemoration of Atatürk Youth and Sports Day and 30 August Victory Day are accepted as official holidays, and Eid al-Fitr, which starts at 13:00 on the eve and lasts for a total of 3.5 days, and Eid al-Adha, which lasts for a total of 4.5 days, including the eve, are accepted as religious holidays. 1 January has been adopted as New Year’s Day, 1 May Labour and Solidarity Day and 15 July Democracy and National Unity Day.
Accordingly, there are a total of 15.5 days of general holidays in Turkey during the year.
According to subparagraph (D) of Article 2 of the Law, it is stated that all private and public institutions must be closed on Republic Day, which is the only national holiday among these days, but there is no penal provision.
It is stipulated that only official institutions shall be on holiday on the remaining general holidays in Turkey. If the national holidays and general holidays specified in the law end on Friday evening, the following Saturday must also be a holiday.
According to these explanations, although it is essential that the workers do not work and take a holiday on a national holiday and general holiday, it is also a very common situation that the work continues on these days in line with the work subject and business needs of the workplace.
According to Article 44 of the Labour Law, it is possible to specify whether or not to work on these days by collective bargaining agreements or employment contracts.
In case of partial work, the explanations regarding the week holiday and wage should be taken as basis. In the event that a part-time employee works on a general holiday, the wages for that day should be paid one times more in accordance with the same principles.
