What Are the Types of Insurance in Türkiye?
Turkish law sorts insurance along two axes: the life and non-life groups, and compulsory versus voluntary lines. Product names do not map one to one onto that official split, so the class a policy rests on is a separate question worth asking.
The answer to what types of insurance exist sits in two official texts rather than in any brochure: the Insurance Law and the communiqué that fixes the classes. This article sets out how insurance is actually classified in Türkiye and what that means for your own policy.
Why Is Insurance Divided Into Classes?
The division comes from the licensing regime rather than from a taste for taxonomy. Under Article 5 of Insurance Law No. 5684, insurance and reinsurance companies must obtain a separate licence for each insurance class in which they intend to operate. A company is not granted a general permission to do insurance; it is licensed class by class.
The second paragraph of the same article sets a rule with large consequences: an insurance company may operate in only one of the life and non-life groups, and the classes within those groups are determined by the Minister. That determination was made by the Communiqué on Insurance Classes, published in Official Gazette No. 26579 of 11 July 2007. Regulation and supervision in this field are today carried out by SEDDK, the Insurance and Private Pension Regulation and Supervision Authority.
The rule also explains why one familiar brand can appear as more than one company: the life side cannot sit in the same legal entity as the non-life side.
Which Classes Are in the Non-Life Group?
The schedule to the communiqué lists eighteen classes in the non-life group. Almost every policy an individual or a business meets in daily life rests on one or several lines of this list:
- 1. Accident (including occupational diseases)
- 2. Sickness/Health
- 3. Land vehicles (own damage, the basis of kasko cover)
- 4. Railway rolling stock
- 5. Aircraft
- 6. Marine craft (sea, lake and river vessels)
- 7. Goods in transit (merchandise, baggage and all other goods)
- 8. Fire and natural forces
- 9. Other damage to property
- 10. Motor vehicle liability
- 11. Aircraft liability
- 12. Marine craft liability
- 13. General liability
- 14. Credit
- 15. Suretyship (direct and indirect)
- 16. Miscellaneous financial loss
- 17. Legal expenses
- 18. Assistance
Which Classes Are in the Life Group?
Line fifteen of that non-life list is a good illustration that these lists can move. In the original communiqué that line read Fidelity Guarantee; the amending communiqué published in Official Gazette No. 29136 of 1 October 2014 replaced it with Suretyship, split into direct and indirect suretyship. Anything resting on this list should be checked against the source before it is repeated.
The life group contains seven headings:
- 1. Life (survival, death, mixed cover, return of premium, annuity payments and supplementary bodily injury benefits)
- 2. Marriage and birth insurance
- 3. Unit-linked insurance
- 4. Capital redemption insurance
- 5. Management of group pension funds
- 6. Accident (including occupational diseases)
- 7. Sickness/Health
What Makes an Insurance Compulsory Rather Than Voluntary?
The second axis is whether buying the policy is a choice or a duty. Under Article 13 of Law No. 5684 the President may create compulsory insurance lines where the public interest requires it, and insurers may not refuse to write a compulsory line falling within the classes they are licensed for.
The real mechanism sits in the third paragraph. Authorities empowered to grant or supervise a permit or licence for carrying on an activity, or for using a thing, must check whether the compulsory insurance has been taken out within valid sums insured. Where it has not, the transaction is refused and the activity is suspended by the competent authority until valid cover is in place. The sanction behind compulsory insurance is usually not a fine but a stopped business.
The table below combines both axes. The right-hand column names the text the obligation rests on:
| Insurance | Status | Legal Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Compulsory Motor Third Party Liability (trafik sigortası) | Compulsory | Law No. 2918, art. 91 |
| Compulsory Earthquake Insurance (DASK, the state-backed pool) | Compulsory | Disaster Insurance Law No. 6305 |
| Hazardous Materials and Hazardous Waste Compulsory Liability | Compulsory | General conditions naming it compulsory |
| Kasko (motor own damage) | Voluntary | Freedom of contract |
| Home package insurance | Voluntary | Freedom of contract |
| Travel health insurance | Voluntary | May be required externally, e.g. for a visa |
How Do the General Conditions Group Insurance?
A third grouping exists and is regularly confused with the licensed classes: the families of general conditions. SEDDK publishes the standard wordings that frame each product under Property, Financial, Agricultural, Life and Personal Accident, Credit, Liability and Legal Protection headings.
The two lists do different work. The licensed class governs what a company may sell; the general conditions set the minimum frame of what is sold. Where a product has no published general conditions, its scope is built entirely in the insurer's special conditions, which makes comparison a matter of reading the wording.
The practical rule for a buyer: when asking where a cover comes from, look first at the general conditions and then, if it is not there, at the special conditions. A brochure substitutes for neither.
Why Doesn't the Product Name Match the Class Name?
The name printed on your policy and the class name in the legislation are often different. That is not an inconsistency but two languages sitting side by side: the product name belongs to distribution, the class name to licensing.
Kasko rests on class three, Land Vehicles, while compulsory motor liability rests on class ten, Motor Vehicle Liability. Earthquake cover sits under class eight, Fire and Natural Forces. Health appears separately in both the non-life and the life group, which is why two similar-looking health products may come from companies in different groups.
In package products such as SME or home cover, a single policy carries covers drawn from several classes at once: fire, theft, glass breakage, third party liability. In a package policy the answer to what is covered lies in the schedule of covers attached to it, not in the product name.
Where We Come In as an Agency
RYL Sigorta Aracılık Hizmetleri Limited Şirketi is an insurance agency. Under Article 23 of Law No. 5684, carrying on insurance agency activity requires registration in the Levha, the register kept by the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB). We do not issue policies and we do not pay claims; we prepare quotations from the insurers we act for, and claims are paid by the insurance company that is party to the contract.
The everyday use of these distinctions is simple: when describing what you need, describe the risk rather than the product name. What are you afraid of losing, to whom might you be liable, and which activity is asking you for a certificate? The answers to those three questions decide which class and which cover are actually on the table.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Many Insurance Classes Are There in Türkiye?
Article 5 of Insurance Law No. 5684 divides insurance into the life and non-life groups and allows a company to operate in only one of them. The classes inside those groups are fixed by the Communiqué on Insurance Classes: eighteen headings in the non-life group and seven in the life group.
Who Decides That an Insurance Is Compulsory?
Under Article 13 of Law No. 5684, the President may create compulsory insurance lines where the public interest requires it. Insurance companies may not refuse to write a compulsory line that falls within the classes they are licensed for.
What Happens if a Compulsory Insurance Is Not Taken Out?
The third paragraph of Article 13 obliges authorities granting or supervising permits and licences to check whether compulsory insurance has been taken out within valid sums insured. If it has not, the transaction is refused and the relevant activity is suspended by the competent authority until valid cover is obtained.
Which Class Does Kasko Belong To?
Kasko, the motor own damage product, rests on class three, Land Vehicles, which covers indemnity for damage to the vehicle itself. Compulsory motor third party liability rests on class ten, Motor Vehicle Liability, which concerns liability towards third parties.
Can the List of Classes Change?
Yes. In the original communiqué the fifteenth class was Fidelity Guarantee; the amending communiqué published in Official Gazette No. 29136 of 1 October 2014 replaced it with Suretyship. Anything relying on the list of classes should therefore be verified against the current source.
Sources
- Insurance Law No. 5684 — Turkish Legislation Information System
- Communiqué Amending the Communiqué on Insurance Classes (2007/1) — SEDDK
- Index of General Conditions — SEDDK
- Highway Traffic Law No. 2918 — Turkish Legislation Information System
- Disaster Insurance Law No. 6305 — DASK
This article is for information only; the scope of cover is set by the policy’s specific and general terms.
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