Transformation of social policies in Turkey and old age policies

The public policies have undergone a series of transformations with the effects of historical breaks together with the existence of the state organizations. There is still a lot of debate about the public policy, such as its actors, the area of the policy, the way that the public policies deal with the social issues. However, the social policies classified under redistributive policies among the public policy types are the most affected ones through these transformations of our recent history. Every social, political and economic transformation has provided with the reshaping and discussions of social policies. Population aging, which has become an undeniable reality since the 20th century, as a result of scientific studies, will lead to major social and demographic transformations in the near future that creates an effect similar to that of the industrial revolution. Individuals aged 65+ years that are considered as elderly population will require a remarkable change in our daily life practices. Because their number in the total population increases gradually. With this process it is inevitable that the social policies must be reshaped. Population aging is a process that reverses the young population structure in the countries which couldn't complete its development like Turkey. Although young people living in Turkey has still had a large share in the total population, the recent studies show that this situation will reverse in the near future. This transformation happens not only in Turkey, but simultaneously all over the world. Therefore, international studies in this field have recently gained momentum. That is why, this study aims to explain the current policies in respect of population aging, how Turkey understands this transformation process, and whether Turkey reflects this situation into its policies sufficiently.