Azkan Group
The Türkiye Specialist Who Knows Every Corner of the Country
Azkan Group has built its reputation as a dedicated Türkiye-focused employment and recruitment consultancy rather than a global platform that happens to cover the market. Headquartered in Istanbul with a French-Turkish bilingual leadership team, the firm has spent years serving European companies, particularly French, Belgian and Swiss businesses, that want to hire in Türkiye without incorporating a local entity. That cultural and linguistic bridge is a genuine differentiator: many buyers report that Azkan's consultants explain Turkish labour practice in terms a European HR director can act on, rather than issuing generic compliance boilerplate.
The firm's core strength is depth in local employment law. Türkiye's Labour Law No. 4857 imposes obligations that catch foreign employers off guard, including severance pay accruals (kıdem tazminatı) that build from the first year of service, notice pay tiers, mandatory annual leave escalations, and strict rules around fixed-term contracts. Azkan handles SGK social security registration, monthly payroll declarations, income tax withholding across Türkiye's progressive bands, and the work permit process through the Ministry of Labour and Social Security for foreign nationals, a process that routinely requires careful documentation and follow-up. The team also advises on Türkiye's inflationary wage environment, where mid-year salary revisions and minimum wage adjustments are common practice rather than exceptions.
Azkan is best suited to small and mid-sized European employers hiring anywhere from one to fifty people in Türkiye, especially those in engineering, manufacturing, IT and industrial services. Buyers seeking a single global vendor across dozens of countries will find Azkan narrower in scope, but for Türkiye specifically the firm offers a level of market-specific counsel that broader providers rarely match. Its combined EOR and recruitment capability also lets clients source and then employ talent through one relationship.
Key Features:
- Türkiye-dedicated EOR with Istanbul-based consultants and no reliance on third-party local partners
- French, English and Turkish language support tailored to European headquarters teams
- Full SGK social security registration, monthly payroll filings and income tax withholding management
- Work permit and residence permit sponsorship for foreign nationals relocating to Türkiye
- Severance and notice pay accrual tracking under Labour Law No. 4857
- Integrated recruitment and executive search alongside employment administration
Why I Picked Azkan Group:
I included Azkan Group because it is one of the few providers whose entire business is built around Türkiye rather than treating it as one flag among 150. For European companies making a first hire in Istanbul, Ankara or Izmir, that concentrated local knowledge, combined with genuinely bilingual account management, removes far more friction than a generic global platform does.