| Turkish Armed Forces | |
|---|---|
| Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri (Turkish) | |
 Emblem of the TAF | |
| Founded |
|
| Service branches |  Turkish Land Forces Turkish Naval Forces Turkish Air Force |
| Headquarters | General Staff Building,Bakanlıklar,Çankaya,Ankara, Turkey |
| Website | https://www.tsk.tr |
| Leadership | |
| Commander-in-Chief |  PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdoğan |
| Minister of National Defense |  MinisterYaşar Güler[2] |
| Chief of the General Staff |  GeneralSelçuk Bayraktaroğlu |
| Personnel | |
| Military age | 20[3] |
| Conscription | 6 months |
| Active personnel | 481,000[4] |
| Reserve personnel | 380,000[5] |
| Expenditure | |
| Budget | US$25.0 billion (2024)[6] (ranked 17th) |
| Percent of GDP | 2,09% (2024)[4] |
| Industry | |
| Domestic suppliers | |
| Foreign suppliers | |
| Annual exports | $7.1 billion (2024)[7] |
| Related articles | |
| History | |
| Ranks | Military ranks of Turkey |
 |
| Leadership |
|---|
| Branches |
| History |
| Special Forces |
| Member of |
| Current foreign deployments and missions |
TheTurkish Armed Forces (TAF;Turkish:Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri,TSK) are themilitary forces of theRepublic of Turkey. The TAF consist of theLand Forces, theNaval Forces and theAir Forces. TheChief of theGeneral Staff is the Commander of the Armed Forces. In wartime, the Chief of the General Staff acts as theCommander-in-Chief on behalf of thePresident, who represents the Supreme Military Command of the TAF on behalf of theGrand National Assembly of Turkey.[9] Coordinating the military relations of the TAF with otherNATO member states and friendly states is the responsibility of the General Staff.
The history of the Turkish Armed Forces began with its formation after thecollapse of the Ottoman Empire. The Turkish military perceived itself as the guardian ofKemalism, the officialstate ideology, especially of its emphasis onsecularism. After becoming a member of NATO in 1952, Turkey initiated a comprehensive modernization program for its armed forces. The Turkish Army sent14,936 troops to fight in theKorean War alongside South Korea and NATO. Towards the end of the 1980s, a second restructuring process was initiated. The Turkish Armed Forces participate in anEU Battlegroup under the control of theEuropean Council, the Italian-Romanian-Turkish Battlegroup. The TAF also contributes operational staff to theEurocorps multinational army corps initiative of theEU and NATO.
The TAF is the second largest standing military force in NATO, after theU.S. Armed Forces.[10] Turkey is one of five NATO member states which are part of thenuclear sharing policy of the alliance, together with Belgium,Germany, Italy, and theNetherlands.
The Turkish War of Independence (19 May 1919 – 24 July 1923) was a series of military campaigns waged by theTurkish National Movement after parts of theOttoman Empire were occupied and partitioned following its defeat inWorld War I. These campaigns were directed againstGreece in the west,Armenia in the east,France in the south,loyalists and separatists in various cities, andBritish and Ottoman troops around Constantinople (İstanbul).[11]
The ethnic demographics of the modernTurkish Republic were significantly impacted by the earlierArmenian genocide and the deportations of Greek-speaking, Orthodox ChristianRum people.[12] The Turkish National Movement carried out massacres and deportations to eliminate nativeChristian populations – a continuation of the Armenian genocide andother ethnic cleansing operations during World War I.[13] Following these campaigns of ethnic cleansing the historic Christian presence in Anatolia was destroyed, in large part, and the Muslim demographic had increased from 80% to 98%.[12]
WhileWorld War I ended for the Ottoman Empire with theArmistice of Mudros, theAllied Powers occupied parts of the empire and sought to prosecute former members of theCommittee of Union and Progress and others involved in theArmenian genocide.[14][15] Ottoman military commanders therefore refused orders from both the Allies and theOttoman government to surrender and disband their forces. This crisis reached a head whensultanMehmed VI dispatchedMustafa Kemal Pasha (Atatürk), a well-respected and high-ranking general, toAnatolia to restore order; however, Mustafa Kemal became an enabler and eventually leader ofTurkish National Movement against the Ottoman government, Allied powers, and Christian minorities. on 3 May 1920,Birinci FerikMustafa Fevzi Pasha (Çakmak) was appointed the Minister of National Defence, andMirlivaİsmet Pasha (İnönü) was appointed the Minister of the Chief of General Staff of thegovernment of the Grand National Assembly (GNA).[16]
In an attempt to establish control over the power vacuum in Anatolia, the Allies persuadedGreek Prime MinisterEleftherios Venizelos to launch an expeditionary force into Anatolia andoccupy Smyrna (İzmir), beginning the Turkish War of Independence. A nationalistGovernment of the Grand National Assembly (GNA) led by Mustafa Kemal was established inAnkara when it became clear the Ottoman government was backing the Allied powers. The Allies soon pressured the Ottoman government in Constantinople into suspending theConstitution, shuttering theParliament, and signing theTreaty of Sèvres, a treaty that the "Ankara government" declared illegal.
In the ensuing war,irregular militia defeated theFrench forces in the south, and undemobilized units went on topartition Armenia withBolshevik forces, resulting in theTreaty of Kars (October 1921). The Western Front of the independence war was known as theGreco-Turkish War, in which Greek forces at first encountered unorganized resistance. Howeverİsmet Pasha's organization of militia into aregular army paid off when Ankara forces fought the Greeks in theFirst andSecond Battle of İnönü. The Greek army emerged victorious in theBattle of Kütahya-Eskişehir and decided to attack Ankara, stretching their supply lines. On 3 August 1921, the GNA fired İsmet Pasha from the post of Minister of National Defence because of his failure at theBattle of Afyonkarahisar–Eskişehir and on 5 August, just before theBattle of Sakarya, appointed the chairman of the GNA Atatürk ascommander-in-chief of the Army of the GNA. The Turks checked the Greek advance in theBattle of Sakarya and counter-attacked in theGreat Offensive, which expelled Greek forces from Anatolia in the span of three weeks. The war effectively ended with theTurkish capture of Smyrna and theChanak Crisis, prompting the signing of theArmistice of Mudanya.
The Grand National Assembly in Ankara was recognized as the legitimate Turkish government, which signed theTreaty of Lausanne in July 1923. The Allies evacuated Anatolia andEastern Thrace, the Ottoman government was overthrown and themonarchy abolished, and theGrand National Assembly of Turkey (which remains Turkey's primary legislative body today) declared theRepublic of Turkey on 29 October 1923. With the war, apopulation exchange between Greece and Turkey,[17] the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire, and theabolition of the sultanate, the Ottoman era came to an end, and withAtatürk's reforms, the Turks created the modern, secular nation-state of Turkey. On 3 March 1924, theOttoman caliphate was also abolished.
There were several rebellionssoutheastern Turkey in the 1920s and 1930s, the most important of which were the 1925Sheikh Said rebellion and the 1937Dersim rebellion. All were suppressed by the TAF, sometimes involving large-scale mobilisations of up to 50,000 troops.
Turkey remained neutral until the final stages ofWorld War II. In the initial stage of World War II, Turkey signed a treaty of mutual assistance with Great Britain and France.[18] But after thefall of France, the Turkish government tried to maintain an equal distance with both theAllies and theAxis. FollowingNazi Germany's occupation of theBalkans, upon which the Axis-controlled territory inThrace and the eastern islands of theAegean Sea bordered Turkey, the Turkish government signed a Treaty of Friendship and Non-Aggression with Germany on 18 June 1941.
After theGerman invasion of the Soviet Union, the Turkish government sent a military delegation of observers under Lieutenant General Ali Fuat Erden to Germany and theEastern Front.[19] Following the German retreat from theCaucasus, the Turkish government then moved closer to the Allies andWinston Churchill secretly met withİsmet İnönü at theAdana Conference in Yenice Train Station in southern Turkey on 30 January 1943, with the intent of persuading Turkey to join the war on the side of the Allies. A few days before the start ofOperation Zitadelle in July 1943, the Turkish government sent a military delegation under General Cemil Cahit Toydemir to Russia and observed the exercises of the503rd Heavy Panzer Battalion and its equipment.[20] But after the failure of Operation Zitadelle, the Turkish government participated in theSecond Cairo Conference in December 1943, whereFranklin D. Roosevelt, Churchill and İnönü reached an agreement on issues regarding Turkey's possible contribution to the Allies. On 23 February 1945, Turkey joined the Allies by declaring war against Germany andJapan, after it was announced at theYalta Conference that only the states which were formally at war with Germany and Japan by 1 March 1945 would be admitted to theUnited Nations.[21]
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Turkey participated in theKorean War as a member state of the United Nations and sent theTurkish Brigade to South Korea, and suffered 731 losses while displaying exceptional valor in combat. On 18 February 1952, Turkey became a member ofNATO.[22] The South Korean government donated a war memorial for Turkish soldiers who fought and died in Korea. The Koreanpagoda was donated in 1973 for the 50th anniversary of the Turkish Republic and is located inAnkara.
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On 20 July 1974, the TAF launched anamphibious andairborneassault operation onCyprus, in response to the1974 Cypriot coup d'état which had been staged byEOKA-B and theCypriot National Guard against presidentMakarios III with the intention ofannexing the island to Greece; but the military intervention ended up with Turkey occupying a considerable area on the northern part of Cyprus and helping to establish a local government ofTurkish Cypriots there, which has thus far been recognized only by Turkey. The intervention came after more than adecade of intercommunal violence (1963–1974) between the island'sGreek Cypriots andTurkish Cypriots, resulting from the constitutional breakdown of 1963. Turkey invoked its role as a guarantor under theTreaty of Guarantee in justification for the military intervention.[23] Turkish forces landed on the island in two waves, invading and occupying 37% of the island's territory in the northeast for the Turkish Cypriots, who had been isolated in small enclaves across the island prior to the military intervention.[24][25][26]
In the aftermath, the Turkish Cypriots declared a separate political entity in the form of theTurkish Federated State of Cyprus in 1975; and in 1983 made a unilateral declaration of independence as theTurkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is recognized only by Turkey to this day. The United Nations continues to recognize the sovereignty of theRepublic of Cyprus according to the terms of its independence in 1960. The conflict continues to overshadow Turkish relations with Greece and with theEuropean Union. In 2004, during thereferendum for theAnnan Plan for Cyprus (a United Nations proposal to resolve theCyprus dispute) 76% of theGreek Cypriots rejected the proposal, while 65% of theTurkish Cypriots accepted it.
The TAF are in a protracted campaign against thePKK (recognized as aterrorist organization by the United States, theEuropean Union andNATO)[27][28][29][30][31] which has involved frequent forays into neighbouringIraq andSyria. The leader of the terrorist organisationPKK;Abdullah Öcalan was arrested in 1999 inNairobiKenya, taken to Turkey and publicly trialed for several crimes. In 2015, the PKK cancelled their one-sided 2013 ceasefire after tension due to various events (Hendek Operasyonları) and threatened to attack dams in Turkey.[32]
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Turkey contributed troops in several NATO-led peace forces inBosnia andKosovo. Currently there are 402 Turkish troops inKosovo Force.
After the2003 Istanbul Bombings were linked toAl-Qaeda, Turkey deployed troops toAfghanistan to fightTaliban forces and Al-Qaeda operatives, with the hopes of dismantling both groups. Turkey's responsibilities included providing security in Kabul (it formerly leadRegional Command Capital), as well as inWardak Province, where it lead PRT Maidan Shahr. Turkey was once the third largest contingent within theInternational Security Assistance Force. Turkey's troops were not engaged in combat operations and Ankara has long resisted pressure from Washington to offer more combat troops. According to theWashington Post, in December 2009, after US PresidentBarack Obama announced he would deploy 30,000 more U.S. soldiers, and that Washington wants others to follow suit, Turkish Prime MinisterRecep Tayyip Erdoğan reacted with the message that Turkey would not contribute additional troops to Afghanistan. "Turkey has already done what it can do by boosting its contingent of soldiers there to 1,750 from around 700 without being asked", saidErdoğan, who stressed that Turkey would continue its training of Afghan security forces.
Turkey withdrew their troops fromAfghanistan after thefall of Kabul (2021).[33][34][35]
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The TAF have carried out major military operations againstISIS,YPG and theAssad Regime in Syria;Operation Euphrates Shield in 2016,Operation Olive Branch in 2018,Operation Peace Spring in 2019 andOperation Spring Shield in 2020. As a result of these operations, regions asJarabulus,Al-Bab,Tell Abyad,Ras al-Ayn andAfrin were captured byRebel Forces of theSyrian Interim Government and TAF.
The TAF implemented new tactics and techniques like the mass use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. Thanks to these drone raids, which were used in coordination with electronic warfare, systems such as thePantsir andBuk used byBa'athist Syria were neutralized. International relations and policy think tanks as theMiddle East Institute,Institute for the Study of War,Rand Corporation,Jamestown Foundation[36][37][38][39] and many military analysts stated that the TAF have made significant changes in military doctrines and have created a new military approach based on drones and electronic warfare with the military operations it has carried out or helped to carry out in regions such asSyria,Libya,Iraq andKarabakh. The developments it has made in drone technology in particular have been interpreted as Türkiye's defense industry and armed forces becoming among the world's leading forces.[40][41][42][43]
The TAF have performed "Disaster Relief Operations," as in the1999 İzmit earthquake in theMarmara region of Turkey. Apart from contributing to NATO, the Turkish Navy also contributes to theBlack Sea Naval Co-operation Task Group, which was created in early 2001 by Turkey,Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia and Ukraine for search and rescue and other humanitarian operations in theBlack Sea.
Publicly available audit by theCourt of Accounts in 2023 suggests that the Turkish Armed Forces consisted of 210,989 military staff in active service and 121,161 in reserve duties, aggregating a total of 332,150.[5] The term reserve describes those in mandatory service under officer, non-commissioned officer, and enlisted positions. By a 2016 reorganisation, theGendarmerie General Command and theCoast Guard Command were subordinated to the Ministry of Interior and therefore, their personnel count is no longer included within the military.[44]
The Turkish Armed Forces is headed by theChief of the General Staff, the principal military officer. It reports to theMinister of National Defense, a cabinet-level civilian position. The service branches, theLand Forces, theNaval Forces, and theAir Force, all subordinate to the ministry under operational supervision of theGeneral Staff.[45] In contrast to the rest of the military, where all elements are bound to a service branch, theSpecial Forces Command is responsible to the General Staff.[46]
As of 2024, there are 327 general officers.[47] The positions are dominated by the Land Forces, while the Air Force is the smallest service branch. In 2016, the Turkish Armed Forces had 326 generals, which plunged to 196 following the2016 Turkish coup attempt. Although the military suffered personnel shortage, it over the years managed to restore its staff capacity.[48] The cadres were all-male dominated, albeit there was no restriction on women. In 2022, Özlem Yılmaz made history by getting promoted to brigadier general within the gendarmerie. The next year, the Naval Forces received its first female rear admiral.[49][50]
TheLand Forces Command (Turkish:Kara Kuvvetleri Komutanlığı) is the largest service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces, superdominating the other branches. It wasde facto established in 1920, during theTurkish War of Independence, as a merger of the pre-existing irregularKuva-yi Milliye forces.[51] The government, however, acknowledges 209 BC as the symbolic date it was founded ─ the year whenMete Khan ascended to the throne of theXiongnu Empire. His heritage stands well-appreciated in Turkish historiography for the contributions to the later Turkish know-how, as he is thought to be the first Turkic ruler to introduce the local tribes into a complex military entity.[52]
In 2022, the force is composed of four armies, nine corps, eightcommando brigades, onemountain commando brigade, seven armoured brigades, 14 mechanised brigades, seven motorised infantry brigades, and three artillery brigades.[53]
Combatant commands | Support commands
| Headquarters service units
|
TheTurkish Naval Forces, or Turkish Navy, constitutes thenaval warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. The Turkish Navy maintains several Marines and Special Operations units. TheAmphibious Marines Brigade (Amfibi Deniz Piyade Tugayı) based inFoça nearİzmir consists of 4,500 men, three amphibious battalions, anMBT battalion, anartillery battalion, a support battalion and other company-sized units.[54] TheSu Altı Taarruz (S.A.T. – Underwater Attack) is dedicated to missions including the acquisition of military intelligence, amphibious assault, counter-terrorism and VIP protection; while theSu Altı Savunma (S.A.S. – Underwater Defense) is dedicated to coastal defense operations (such as clearing mines or unexploded torpedoes) and disabling enemy vessels or weapons with underwater operations; as well as counter-terrorism and VIP protection missions.[54]
TheTurkish Air Force is theaerial warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. It is primarily responsible for the protection and sovereignty of Turkishairspace but also provides air-power to the otherservice branches. Turkey is one of five NATO member states which are part of thenuclear sharing policy of the alliance, together with Belgium,Germany, Italy, and theNetherlands.[55] A total of 90B61 nuclear bombs are hosted at theIncirlik Air Base, 40 of which are allocated for use by the Turkish Air Force in case of a nuclear conflict, but their use requires the approval ofNATO.[56]
The Air Force took part in theOperation Deliberate Force of 1995 andOperation Allied Force of 1999, and later participated in the United Nations peacekeeping mission inBosnia-Herzegovina, employing two squadrons (one in theGhedi fighter wing, and after 2000 one in theAviano fighter wing.)[57] They returned to Turkey in 2001. In 2006, 4 Turkish F-16 fighter jets were deployed for NATO'sBaltic Air Policing operation.
As of February 2021, Turkey has at least over 50,000+ military personnel stationed outside its territory.[58] The only military base stationed permanently abroad, regardless of the organizations that are members of Turkey, which has been temporarily holding troops several times abroad due to its responsibilities arising from many international political members, particularlyNATO membership, is theCyprus Turkish Peace Force Command. The military bases of the Turkish Armed Forces inQatar,Syria,[59]Somalia[60] andBashiqa, among an unknown number of other bases internationally, are currently active. It was announced in 2017 that Turkey would start working on establishing a research base inAntarctica.[61]
According to a study conducted in England, Turkey has the largest deployment of international troops after the United States,[62] with an estimated strength of at least 60,000+ military personnel stationed outside of the borders of Turkey. This means that 1 in 6 of the active military troops of Turkey (which is estimated to be 355,200 in 2020)[63] are deployed outside of the borders of the country.[58]
Turkey currently has a military presence in the following countries;
Albania – 24 troops inPasha Liman Base, with 2 frigates.[64] An Albanian-Turkish military cooperation agreement was signed in 1992 that encompassed rebuildingAlbania'sPasha Liman Base by Turkey alongside granted access for Turkish use.[65]
Azerbaijan – Buildings and structures in Gizil Sherg military town, and one terminal building located in the airfield inHacı Zeynalabdin settlement.[66] An observation base was also built by Turkey in theNagorno-Karabakh region after the 44-day2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war. The base was established inAghdam under the name "Ceasefire Observation Center", and officially started to operate in January 2021 with 60 Turkish and Russian soldiers stationed at the base.[67]
Bosnia and Herzegovina – Under EUROFOROperation Althea 242 troops, previously underImplementation Force andStabilisation Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina at Mehmet The Conqueror Barracks.[68][69]
Iraq – Turkey has signed agreement with Iraq which includes allowing the Turkish army to pursue elements of theKurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, with the permission of, and in coordination with the Federal Government of Iraq. It also includes opening two liaison offices between Baghdad and Ankara to exchange intelligence and security information between the two countries.[70][71] As of 2020, Turkey has a military base with 2,000 personnel inBashiqa andBamarni Air Base garrisoned with around 60tanks,Armoured personnel carriers and one commando battalion.[72][73] Turkey has more than 40+ military and intelligence bases scattered all aroundIraq, the most out of any country.[74] There are plans to build a new base in the Metina area ofDuhok governorate inIraqi Kurdistan Region as of April 2021.[75][76] In total, Turkey has stationed around 5,000 to 10,000 soldiers inIraq.[77][78]
Kosovo – An estimated 321 troops serve in the Kosovo Security Battalion command. They are stationed at Sultan Murat base in the city ofPrizren forUNMIK mission andKFORpeacekeeping force's.[69][68][79][80]
Libya – Airbases atal-Watiya,Mitiga andMisrata, in addition toZwara.[81] The number of Turkish soldiers stationed inLibya is unknown.[78]
Northern Cyprus – A total of 35,000 to 40,000 armed forces of theRepublic of Turkey are currently in active dutyCyprus Turkish Peace Force Command.[78]
Qatar – A military base inDoha with 5,000 personnel.[82][83][84][85]
Somalia –Camp TURKSOM with 2,000 personnel.[78]
Syria – Bases inAl-Bab,Al-Rai,Akhtarin,Afrin,Jindires,Rajo andJarablus with at least 5,000 personnel inEuphrates Shield andOlive Branch regions. New bases were followed at south ofAfrin canton inAtme andDarat Izza[86] There are 114 Turkish bases in Syria as of January 2022.[87] After operationPeace Spring, approximately 6,400 personnel are working around the Peace Spring region betweenRas al-Ayn andTell Abyad. 19 observation points are settled aroundIdlib andAleppo Province.[88] Altogether, there are an estimated 10,500 Turkish soldiers and 250tanks stationed inSyria. These numbers are constantly subject to modifications.[78]Turkey additionally has a presence in the following countries through UN peacekeeping missions:
Central African Republic – 50 Turkish soldiers are stationed in theCAR as part of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission (MINUSCA).[64]
Democratic Republic of the Congo – 152 units forMONUSCO mission.[89]
Lebanon – 100 Personnel forUNIFIL mission and Maritime Task Force (MTF) participant units.[69][90][68]
Mali – 50 Turkish soldiers are serving inMali as part of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission (MINUSMA).[64]After the Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923,Mustafa Kemal Atatürk prohibited the political activities of officers in active service with the Military Penal Code numbered 1632 and dated 22 May 1930 (Askeri Ceza Kanunu [tr]).[91] However, after the1960 coup d'état, theMillî Birlik Komitesi (National Unity Committee) established the Inner Service Act of the Turkish Armed Forces (Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri İç Hizmet Kanunu [tr]) on 4 January 1961 to legitimize their military interventions in politics. In subsequent coups d'état and coup d'état attempts, they showed reasons to justify their political activities especially with the article 35 and 85 of this act.[92]
The Turkish military perceived itself as the guardian ofKemalism, the official state ideology, especially of itssecular aspects.[93] The TAF still maintains an important degree of influence over the decision-making process regarding issues related to Turkish national security, albeit decreased in the past decades, via theNational Security Council.
The military had a record of intervening in politics, removing elected governments four times in the past. Indeed, it assumed power for several periods in the latter half of the 20th century. It executed threecoups d'état: in 1960 (27 May coup), in 1971 (12 March coup), and in 1980 (12 September coup). Following the 1960 coup d'état, the military executed the first democratically elected prime minister in Turkey,Adnan Menderes, in 1961.[94] Most recently, it maneuvered the removal of anIslamist prime minister,Necmettin Erbakan, in 1997 (known as the28 February memorandum).[8] Contrary to outsider expectations, the Turkish populace was not uniformly averse to coups; many welcomed the ejection of governments they perceived as unconstitutional.[95]
On 27 April 2007, in advance of the 4 November 2007 presidential election, and in reaction to the politics ofAbdullah Gül, who has a past record of involvement inIslamist political movements and banned Islamist parties such as theWelfare Party, the army issued a statement of its interests. It said that the army is a party to "arguments" regardingsecularism; thatIslamism ran counter to the secular nature of Turkey, and to the legacy ofMustafa Kemal Atatürk. The Army's statement ended with a clear warning that the TAF stood ready to intervene if the secular nature of the Turkish Constitution is compromised, stating that "the Turkish Armed Forces maintain their sound determination to carry out their duties stemming from laws to protect the unchangeable characteristics of the Republic of Turkey. Their loyalty to this determination is absolute."[96]
Over a hundred people, including several generals, have been detained or questioned since July 2008 with respect to the so-called organisationErgenekon, an alleged clandestine,ultra-nationalist organization with ties to members of the country's military andsecurity forces. The group is accused of terrorism in Turkey. These accusing claims are reported, even while the trials are going on, mostly in the counter-secular and Islamist media organs.[citation needed]
On 22 February 2010 more than 40 officers were arrested and then formally charged with attempting to overthrow the government with respect to the so-called"Sledgehammer" plot. They include four admirals, a general and two colonels, some of them retired, including former commanders of the Turkish navy and air force (three days later, the former commanders of the navy and air force were released). Partially as a result, theWashington Post reported in April 2010 that the military's power had decreased.[97]
On the eve of the Supreme Military Council of August 2011, the Chief of the General Staff, along with the Army, Navy, and Air Force commanders, requested their retirement, in protest of the mass arrests which they perceived as a deliberate and planned attack against the Kemalist and secular-minded officers of the Turkish Armed Forces by the Islamists in Turkey, who began to control key positions in the Turkish government, judiciary and police.[98][99][100] The swift replacement of the force commanders in the Supreme Military Council meeting affirmed the government's control over the appointment of top-level commanders. However, promotions continue to be determined by the General Staff with limited civilian control. TheEuropean Commission, in its 2011 regular yearly report on Turkey's progress towardsEU accession, stated that "further reforms on the composition and powers of the Supreme Military Council, particularly on the legal basis of promotions, still need to materialise."[101] The service branch commanders continue to report to the Prime Minister instead of the Defence Minister.
In July 2016,a faction within the Turkish Armed Forcesattempted to take over the government, but Erdogan supporters and other loyal military units stopped the coup attempt.[102] Theparliament house, police headquarters, and some other buildings in Ankara were damaged byaerial bombing andattack helicopter gunfire. In Istanbul, theBosporus Bridge was blocked, a tank fired a shell, and soldiers shot at people.[103][104] The incidents caused the death of hundreds and wounding of thousands of unarmed civilians. Following the failed coup attempt, thousands of military personnel were arrested and the structure of the armed forces was overhauled.[102] The total toll of the damages to the economy amounted to US$14 billion.[103]
On August 30, 2024, which is celebrated as "Victory Day" in Turkey,[105] agraduation ceremony was conducted for the academy's finishing class. During the ceremony, 960 graduates, led byvaledictorianEbru Eroğlu, recited the military oath to defend Turkey.[106] The event was attended by Turkish PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdogan.[106] Approximately one hour following the graduation, Eroglu and 400 other graduates were recorded raising their swords and pledging allegiance toMustafa Kemal Atatürk, thesecular founder of modern Turkey.[106] The group subsequently took an oath to uphold "a secular, democratic Turkey."[106] In response, eight days later, Erdogan announced the initiation of an investigation and declared that “the few impertinent individuals responsible will be purged.”[106][105]
| Colour | Wearer[107][108] | |
|---|---|---|
| Black | Armoured Corps. | |
| Blue | Commando Brigades. | |
| Sky blue | Personnel serving inUnited Nations missions. | |
| Brown | Formal Dress. | |
| Green | Gendarmerie General Command. | |
| Maroon | Special Forces Command. | |
| Navy | General Directorate of Security | |
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As such, the Greco-Turkish and Armeno-Turkish wars (1919–23) were in essence processes of state formation that represented a continuation of ethnic unmixing and exclusion of Ottoman Christians from Anatolia.
The Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 officially recognized the " ethnic cleansing " that had gone on during the Turkish War of Independence (1919–1922 ) for the sake of undisputed Turkish rule in Asia Minor .
The 'War of Independence' was not against the occupying Allies – a myth invented by Kemalists – but rather a campaign to rid Turkey of remaining non-Turkish elements. In fact, Nationalists never clashed with Entente occupying forces until the French forces with Armenian contingents and Armenian deportees began to return to Cilicia in late 1919.
The famous 'war of national liberation', prepared by the Unionists and waged by Kemal, was a vast operation, intended to complete the genocide by finally eradicating Armenian, Greek, and Syriac survivors.
While the number of victims in Ankara's deportations remains elusive, evidence from other locations suggest that the Nationalists were as equally disposed to collective punishment and population politics as their Young Turk antecedents... As in the First World War, the mass deportation of civilians was symptomatic of how precarious the Nationalists felt their prospects were.
Thus, from spring 1919, Kemal Pasha resumed, with ex-CUP forces, domestic war against Greek and Armenian rivals. These were partly backed by victors of World War I who had, however, abstained from occupying Asia Minor. The war for Asia Minor – in national diction, again a war of salvation and independence, thus in-line with what had begun in 1913 – accomplished Talaat's demographic Turkification beginning on the eve of World War I. Resuming Talaat's Pontus policy of 1916–17, this again involved collective physical annihilation, this time of the Rûm of Pontus at the Black Sea.
Ittihadist violence was as near as near could be optimal against the Armenians (and Syriacs) and in the final Kemalist phase was quantitively entirely the greater in an increasingly asymmetric conflict where, for instance, Kemal could deport "enemies" into a deep interior in a way that his adversaries could not..., it was the hard men, self-styled saviours of the Ottoman-Turkish state, and – culminating in Kemal – unapologetic génocidaires, who were able to wrest its absolute control.
Between 1920 and 1923, as Turkish and Western diplomats were negotiating the fate of the Armenian Question at peace conferences in London, Paris, and Lausanne, thousands of Armenians of the Ottoman Empire who had survived the massacres and deportations of World War I continued to face massacres, deportations, and persecutions across the length and breadth of Anatolia. Events on the ground, diplomatic correspondence, and news reports confirmed that it was the policy of the Turkish Nationalists in Angora, who eventually founded the Republic of Turkey, to eradicate the remnants of the empire's Armenian population and finalize the expropriation of their public and private properties.
The argument that there was a mutually signed agreement for the population exchange ignores the fact that the Ankara government had already declared its intention that no Greek should remain on Turkish soil before the exchange was even discussed. The final killing and expulsion of the Greek population of the Ottoman Empire in 1920–24 was part of a series of hostile actions that began even before Turkey's entry into World War I.
Mustafa Kemal completed what Talaat and Enver had started in 1915, the eradication of the Armenian population of Anatolia and the termination of Armenian political aspirations in the Caucasus. With the expulsion of the Greeks, the Turkification and Islamification of Asia Minor was nearly complete.
The Greek seizure of Smyrna and the repeated pushes inland – almost to the outskirts of Ankara, the Nationalist capital – coupled with the largely imagined threat of a Pontine breakaway, triggered a widespread, systematic four-year campaign of ethnic cleansing in which hundreds of thousands of Ottoman Greeks were massacred and more than a million deported to Greece... throughout 1914–1924, the overarching aim was to achieve a Turkey free of Greeks.
The genocide was committed by two subsequent and chronologically, ideologically, and organically interrelated and interconnected dictatorial and chauvinist regimes: (1) the regime of the CUP, under the notorious triumvirate of the three pashas (Üç Paşalar), Talât, Enver, and Cemal, and (2) the rebel government at Samsun and Ankara, under the authority of the Grand National Assembly (Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi) and Kemal. Although the process had begun before the Balkan Wars, the final and most decisive period started immediately after WWI and ended with the almost total destruction of the Pontic Greeks ...
albania.
In all of these 'coups' the majority of the Turkish public accepted the military's actions because they felt they were necessary for the well-being of the state and because the military did not seek to impose permanent military governance
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