Health insurance - SGK Sagilikli sigortasi (Istanbul)

Hi there, may you answer to a question please?

Is it REALLY compulsory to have a health insurance in turkey for the foreigners who has the residence permit since one year? I heard that otherwise there are some penalties...
"At the expiration of 1 year since the residence permit has been issued, it's required to go to the local SKK office and start to pay like Protected content every month to a governmental bank... no matter if there is or not a working permit (in the last case the foreigner pays with his own money) and no matter if there is already a private insurance in your country that covers abroad"

is it true for everyone, also for italians?
And how long the maximum you can wait to start this process after the 1 year expiration date - without paying a fee???

Thank you for your help

:-)