TheTurkish Land Forces (Turkish:Türk Kara Kuvvetleri) is the main branch of theTurkish Armed Forces responsible forland-based military operations. The army was formed on 8 November 1920, after thecollapse of the Ottoman Empire. Significant campaigns since the foundation of the army include suppression of rebellions inSoutheast Anatolia andEast Anatolia from the 1920s to the present day, combat in theKorean War, the 1974Turkish invasion of Cyprus and the currentTurkish involvement in the Syrian civil war, as well as itsNATO alliance against theUSSR during theCold War. The army holds the preeminent place within the armed forces. It is customary for theChief of theGeneral Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces to have been theCommander of the Turkish Land Forces prior to his appointment as Turkey's senior ranking officer.
Alongside the other two armed services, the Turkish Army has frequently intervened inTurkish politics, a custom that is now regulated to an extent by the reform of theNational Security Council. It assumed power for several periods in the latter half of the 20th century. It carried outcoups d'état in 1960, 1971, and 1980. Most recently, it maneuvered the removal of an Islamic-oriented prime minister,Necmettin Erbakan, in1997.[8]
From late 2015, the Turkish Army (along with the rest of the Armed Forces) saw its personnel strengths increased to a similar level as the previous decade. Factors that contributed to this growth include theTurkish occupation of northern Syria, as well as arenewal of theKurdish–Turkish conflict.[9][10][11]
The Turkish Army traces its origin to theOttoman Army. A theory accepted officially was that the Ottoman Armed Forces had been founded in 1363, when the Pençik corps (the predecessor of theJanissary Corps, the first full time professional military force established in Europe after theRoman legions) had been formed and, in this context, on 28 June 1963, it celebrated the 600th anniversary of its foundation.[12] In the same year, one of the prominentPan-Turkists,Nihal Atsız, asserted that the Turkish Army had been founded in 209 BC, whenModu Chanyu of theXiongnu is thought to have formed an army based on the decimal system.[6][13] In 1968, Yılmaz Öztuna proposed this theory to Cemal Tural, who was the Chief of the General Staff of the Republic of Turkey at the time.[14] In 1973, when the Turkish Army celebrated the 610th anniversary of its foundation, Nihal Atsız published his claim again.[13][15][verification needed] After the1980 Turkish coup d'état, the Turkish Army formally adopted the date 209 BC as its year of foundation.[16]
The foundations of the modern Turkish Army were laid during the reign of SultanMahmud II. After the Janissary Corps, which was outdated and could not adapt to the times, was abolished with theAuspicious Incident (15 June 1826), Sultan Mahmud II ordered the establishment ofAsakir-i Mansure-i Muhammediye (Victorious Soldiers of the Prophet Muhammad). By embarking on a rapid modernization effort that took the military and technical developments in Europe as an example, the new army decree was approved by Sultan Mahmud II on 7 July 1826, and the Asâkir-i Mansûre-i Muhammediyye Army, the modern army of the empire, was established.[17] After this date, Sultan Mahmud II accelerated his reform efforts and started to establish schools and institutions to support the new army. TheSeraskerlik institution, a high military command, was established by Mahmud II in 1826 to fulfill the duties of the commander-in-chief, and on 14 March 1827, Imperial Military School of Medicine, which is the basis of Turkey's first medical faculty and modern military hospitalGülhane Training and Research Hospital, was established to meet the army's need for physicians and surgeons. Harbiye Military School was later established in 1834 as a modern officer school modeled on the French and Prussian armies, taught by European instructors.[18][19]
The name of the army was changed toAsâkir-i Nizâmiye-i Şâhâne (Royal Regular Soldiers) by SultanAbdülmecid on 14 June 1843. From this date onwards, the army began to be known simply as theNizami Ordu (Regular Army).[20]Kuleli Military High School was opened in 1845. In 1848, Erkan-ı Harbiye Military Academy was opened to train Staff Officers.[21] In 1880, Erkân-ı Harbiye-i Umûmiye Riyaseti, which is equivalent to today's General Staff, was established. In 1908, the name of the Seraskerlik institution was changed to the Ministry of War and the reform efforts reached their peak.[22]
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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).[23]
The ethnic demographics of the modernTurkish Republic were significantly impacted by the earlierArmenian genocide and the deportations of Greek-speaking, Orthodox ChristianRum people.[24] 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.[25] 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%.[24]
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 the Armenian genocide.[26][27] According to the terms of the agreement, it was decided to limit the number of soldiers in the Turkish army to 50 thousand.[28] 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 Atatürk, a well-respected and high-ranking general, toAnatolia to restore order.
With Anatolia in practical anarchy and the Ottoman army being questionably loyal in reaction to Allied land seizures, Mehmed VI established the military inspectorate system to reestablish authority over the remaining empire. Encouraged by Karabekir andEdmund Allenby, he assigned[29]Mustafa Kemal Pasha (Atatürk) as the inspector of theNinth Army Troops Inspectorate –based inErzurum– to restore order to Ottoman military units and to improve internal security on 30 April 1919.[30] Mustafa Kemal was a well known, well respected, and well connected army commander, with much prestige coming from his status as the "Hero of Anafartalar"—for his role in theGallipoli Campaign—and his title of "Honorary Aide-de-camp to His Majesty Sultan" gained in the last months of WWI. He was a nationalist and a fierce critic of the government's accommodating policy to the Entente powers. His new assignment gave him effectiveplenipotentiary powers over all of Anatolia which was meant to accommodate him and other nationalists to keep them loyal to the government.[31] 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).[32] The modern Turkish Army has its foundations in nine remnant Ottoman Army corps.
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 theChamber of Deputies, and signing theTreaty of Sèvres, a treaty that the "Ankara government" declared illegal.
In the ensuing war,Kuva-yi Milliye 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. The Turkish military units that were hastily formed in 1920 consisted of 20 infantry divisions in eight corps. The number of soldiers in the units was small. The divisions consisted of three infantry regiments and one artillery regiment.[28] Howeverİsmet Pasha's organization of militia into a regular 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. On 1 August 1922, the Western Front Command had a force of 200,000 men, consisting of 23 infantry and 5 cavalry divisions, ready for the offensive.[28] On August 26, 1922, the Army of the Grand National Assembly[33][34] (Büyük Millet Meclisi Ordusu) launched the general offensive known as the Great Offensive (Büyük Taarruz) against theGreek forces aroundKara Hisâr-ı Sâhip.Nurettin Pasha's1st Army andYakup Şevki Pasha's2nd Army encircled the main body of Major GeneralNikolaos Trikoupis's group and defeated it nearDumlupınar.Fahrettin Pasha's V Cavalry Corps enteredSmyrna (İzmir) on September 9, 1922.Şükrü Naili Pasha'sIII Corps enteredConstantinople (Istanbul) peacefully on October 6, 1923. Subsequent to the founding of theRepublic of Turkey, the Army of the GNA was reorganized. According to the "Hazar Project" dated August 5, 1923, the Turkish Land Forces were organized as three army inspectorates, nine corps, 18 infantry divisions, and three cavalry divisions, and this structure continued until the 1970s. Later, after the tensions with Greece, it was decided to establish afourth army.[28]
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,[35] 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 severalKurdish rebellions in theSouth-East of Turkey in the 1920s and 1930s, the most important of which were the 1925Sheikh Said rebellion and the 1937Dersim rebellion.[36][37] All were suppressed by the TAF, sometimes involving large-scale mobilisations of up to 50,000 troops.[38] Associated atrocities against civilians include theZilan massacre.[39]
In 1935,Turkey purchased 60T-26 modified 1933 light tanks from the USSR (also, two twin-turreted T-26 mod. 1931 were presented to the Turkish government in 1933–1934), along with about 60BA-6 armoured cars to form the 1st Tank Battalion of the 2nd Cavalry Division atLüleburgaz.[40] The Armoured Brigade of the Turkish Army consisted of the 102nd and the 103rd Companies armed with the T-26 mod. 1933 tanks (four platoons in a company, five tanks in the platoon) at the end of 1937. The reserve group of the brigade had 21 T-26 tanks also. At the beginning of 1940, the Turkish Army had the Armoured Brigade inIstanbul, which belonged to the 1st Army, and the 1st Tank Battalion, which belonged to the 3rd Army. Turkish T-26 tanks were taken out of service in 1942.[41][42]
The Annual Report of the British Embassy in Ankara for 1937 said that the Army's manpower included 22 divisions but "progress in mechanization was slow."[43] The shortage of tanks and other armoured vehicles was marked: "units are known to have been transported from Thrace to Anatolia for manoeuvres and reviews." The total strength of the forces was given as 120,000. Exercises were held in theİzmir area to practice defence against a landing from a hostile country "tacitly recognized as Italy." Separately, when war broke out, another report said that the motorised transport of the army consisted of 28 different types of old lorries.
DuringWorld War II, Turkey mobilized more than a million personnel. TheTurkish Army order of battle in 1941 shows a number of formations. Turkey had been severely stretched by its actions in World War I and the leadership wished to avoid such a costly commitment. The Army was also poorly equipped and somewhat rigidly out-of-date. Neutral for most of the war, Turkey declared war onNazi Germany in February 1945, after being given an ultimatum by theAllies of World War II to do so by March 1, 1945, if Turkey wanted a seat in the futureUnited Nations.[44]
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In August 1947, theAmerican Military Mission for Aid to Turkey (later prefixed Joint, thus becoming JAMMAT) was established inAnkara. Hastened by the Soviet threat during theTurkish Straits crisis, large amounts of United States military aid began arriving.[45] JAMMAT began giving significant amounts of advice on the reorganisation and modernisation of the Turkish Army.[46]
In December 1948, the Turkish Army was described as three armies, 13 army corps, 35 infantry divisions; three cavalry divisions, six armoured brigades, and four fortress commands at 33% of war strength; and 309,300 strong. There were also additional security troops.[47]
The command of the Turkish Army was formed on July 1, 1949, and Nuri Yamut was appointed as the firstcommander of the Turkish Army.[3] After Turkey joined NATO, U.S.M24 Chaffee light tanks (238)[48] andM47 Patton medium tanks began arriving.
The Turkish Army participated in theKorean War as a member state of theUnited Nations. Of the 5,000 soldiers of theTurkish Brigade there, 731 were killed. They fought in theBattle of Wawon where it was credited with saving the U.S.2nd Infantry Division from encirclement.[49] The brigade also fought atGimnyangjang-ni, 'Operation Ripper,' or the Fourth Battle of Seoul, and theBattle of the Hook.
"By 1960, with the military already deeply involved in political affairs because of the government's use of martial law to enforce its policies, the senior command concluded that the government had departed from Kemalist principles and that the republic was in imminent danger of disintegration. On May 27, 1960, Turkish army units, under the direction of the Chief of General Staff,Cemal Gürsel, seized the principal government buildings and communications centers and arrested President Bayar, Prime Minister Menderes, and most of the DP representatives in the Grand National Assembly, as well as a large number of other public officials. Those arrested were charged with abrogating the constitution and instituting a dictatorship. The coup was accomplished with little violence and was accepted quickly throughout the country."[50]
The Turkish Land Forces became deeply involved inCounter-Guerrilla covert preparation for resistance. Counter-Gurrilla was the Turkish component of the US/NATO "Operation Gladio" covert preparations against any Soviet/Warsaw Pact occupation of Western Europe. During the 1970s, theSpecial Warfare Department was run by GeneralKemal Yamak. In his memoirs he stated that the United States had set aside around $1m worth of support; part munitions, part money. This arrangement continued until 1973–1974, when Yamak decided the munitions did not meet the department's needs. Yamak wrote the Americans said that the U.S. were footing the bill, and therefore could choose the munitions. Yamak left the meeting and expressed his concerns to theChief of General Staff,Semih Sancar, and the agreement was subsequently annulled.[51][52]
In July 1974,Turkey landed substantial forces suddenly inCyprus. The invasion followed a coup organized byEOKA-B and led byNikos Sampson who ousted the democratically elected Cypriot PresidentArchbishop Makarios III in order to establishEnosis (Union) between Cyprus andGreece. The coup was backed by theGreek military junta in Athens.
The 1974Turkish military operations in Cyprus can be divided into two distinct Turkish offensives, the first being "Atilla 1", which commenced in the early hours of 20 July 1974, with an amphibious landing force, directed by the6th Corps, forming a beachhead atKyrenia's Five Mile Beach. It comprised only infantry troops, but was supported by rolling air and naval artillery attacks, and met with limited resistance from theCyprus National Guard, which was in disarray as a result of the 15 July 1974 coup. The majority of fighting ceased on 23 July, though sporadic clashes continued after this date until 14 August.[53] "Atilla 1" successfully achieved its objective of forming a bridgehead with theTurkish Cypriot enclave of Agyrta-Nicosia.[54]
The second Turkish offensive began on August 14, 1974, as Greek and Turkish Cypriot representatives met inGeneva to discuss the situation on the island. Though a United Nations ceasefire was in place (several had already been disregarded),[54] the Turkish Army, massively reinforced from weeks of build-up, launched an all-out surprise attack on ill-prepared Greek Cypriot and Greek units. With little answer to the masses of armour, mechanised units, artillery, and air support that the Turks could bring to bear, virtually allGreek Cypriot defences collapsed in a matter of days, and by August 16, 1974, Turkish forces, spearheaded by the28th and39th Infantry Divisions, had extended to capture some 37% of the island, including the towns ofFamagusta,Varosha andMorphou.[55]
The conflict in Cyprus resulted in the de facto division of the island between theTurkish Cypriot controlled north and theGreek Cypriot controlled south. Turkey still maintains troops in Cyprus, since a political solution could not yet be achieved and since many members of the Turkish Cypriot community fear a return to the intercommunal violence which occurred between 1963 and 1974.[56]
The modern Turkish Army has its foundations in nine remnant Ottoman Army corps[note 2] after theArmistice of Mudros at the end ofWorld War I. After the rise ofTurkish resistances,Kâzım Pasha'sXV Corps was the only corps which at that time had any combat value.[57]
The Turkish Army has since the mid-1960s operated on a corps-division-brigade system, with a varying number of divisions and brigades assigned to a corps. The IISS Military Balance 1966–67 recorded a total strength of 360,000, with 16 infantry divisions (14 NATO assigned), 4 armoured brigades (Zırhlı tugay) withM47 Patton tanks, armoured cavalry regiments, and two parachute battalions.[58] It appears that infantry training divisions included the57th inManisa, whichKemalettin Eken [tr] commanded between the years 1965 to 1967. At some point in the 1960s the Army apparently utilised thePentomic structure for a period, before adopting the American ROAD divisional organisation.[59] Back in the early 1970s, there was a 6th Infantry Division based at Istanbul.[60]
The U.S.Area Handbook for the Republic of Turkey, written by Thomas Roberts, said in late 1968 that the army had 425,000 men (p. 385), three field armies (First: Istanbul, Second: Konya, Third:Erzurum), thirteen infantry divisions, one armoured division (with M-47s and M-48s), four armoured brigades (M47 Patton tanks), two armoured cavalry regiment, two mechanised infantry brigades, and two parachute battalions.[61] There was a trained reserve of 450,000.
In 1971, the Army with the other branches of the Armed Forces imposed themilitary memorandum to change the civilian government's policies.
According to official British military reports in 1974, the Turkish Army included theFirst Army (2nd,3rd,5th, and15th Corps),Second Army (4th,6th, and7th) andThird Army (8th,9th and11th Corps). There were also threeInterior Zones with three recruit training divisions and four recruit training brigades.[59] For a long period, these formations were grouped under theNATO headquartersAllied Land Forces South-Eastern Europe (LANDSOUTHEAST) in İzmir, led by a Turkish Army four-star General.
In mid-1982, the Army had two mechanised infantry divisions, and fourteen Infantry Divisions, six armoured brigades, and four mechanised brigades, with 3,000M48 MBTs, 500M47 MBTs, as well as 50 Leopard 1A3s, plus another 20 on order, for a total of 3550 main battle tanks.[62] There were another 100M26 Pershing heavy tanks.
Until the dissolution of theWarsaw Pact in 1990, the Army had a static defense mission of countering any possible attack on Thrace by Soviet/Warsaw Pact forces and deterring Greece, and any attack by the SovietTranscaucasus Military District on the Caucasus frontier. TheThird Army was responsible for holding the Caucasus line with about a third of the Army's total strength of one armoured, two mechanised, and fourteen infantry divisions (1986 data).[63] Soviet forces immediately facing the Third Army in the Caucasus were the31st Army Corps in theGeorgian SSR and the7th Guards Army in theArmenian SSR. Together the 31st Corps and 7th Guards Army had six divisions (roughly three Category "B" and three "C")[64] plus some immobile fortified defence areas.
Nigel Thomas'sNATO Armies 1949–87, published in 1988, attributed the2nd,3rd Corps,5th, and15th Corps to the First Army; the6th and7th Corps to the Second Army, the4th,8th, and 9th Corps to the Third Army, and the 11th Corps to theAegean Army. He wrote that the 11th Corps comprised the 28th and 39th Divisions.[65]
"During 1992 the army introduced a sweeping reorganization, shifting from a predominantly divisional and regimental structure to one based on corps and brigades. The personnel strength of the army was reduced in 1994 to about 393,000 (including about 345,000 conscripts)."[66]When the General Staff attempted to shift 120,000 troops to the frontier with Iraq in 1990, they discovered that there were serious deficiencies in the Army's ability to respond to crises that could erupt suddenly in distant regions.[66]
After the fall of theSoviet Union, LANDSOUTHEAST in İzmir became Joint Command Southeast for a period;[67] it becameAllied Air Component Command Izmir in 2004.[68] The headquarters' land-focused roots were revived in the 2010s when NATO's two air commands were reduced into one (at Ramstein, Germany) andAllied Land Command was established at the site.
Lieutenant General Zafer Özkan, the last commander of the 15th Corps in Izmit, retired after serving for two years in August 2005.[69] At that time, the corps was converted to the level of a division.
The TLF has seen frequent recent combat within Turkey and beyond its borders. It is fighting a conflict in south-easternTurkey against the prolonged KurdishPKK insurgency, and monitoringISIS, Russian intervention in Syria, the KurdishYPG, as well as multiple other elements, in Syria. The TLF took responsibility for Kabul from the British soon after the beginning of theInternational Security Assistance Force deployments in 2002–2003. It continued to commandRegional Command Capital in Kabul for a long period.
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Towards the end of the 1980s, a restructuring and modernization process has been initiated by the Turkish Armed Forces, which still continues today. The final goal ofTurkey is to produce indigenous military equipment and to become increasingly self-sufficient in terms of military technologies.[70]
The then-Army Commander,Gen. Büyükanıt, said of further modernization efforts in 2006:
The Land Forces aim at being equipped with new opportunities and capabilities in order to carry out its duty in full strength against a large variety of threats, varying from classical threats to asymmetrical ones.
The targets for our land forces are to be realized through 'Forces 2014' project. This project aims to shrink the forces without undermining its combat capabilities. On the contrary, under the plan, the efficiency of the force will increase.
Within this period of time, the Land Forces will gradually decrease by 20 to 30 percent in terms of the number of personnel and forces formations. It will be equipped with modern arms and war devices as the distinct features of this new formation. Thus the battle capability will be given to high-ranking brigades. Moreover, with the Combat Zone Management System, the land tactical map will be numerically formed in real-time or close to real-time and a constant tracking will be provided.
— Büyükanıt (The New Anatolian, Evren Değer, 10 August 2006)[71]
At present, the primarymain battle tanks of the Turkish Army are theLeopard 2A4 and theM60T. There are also around 400Leopard 1 and 750M60 Patton variants in service (excluding the M60T which were upgraded with the 120 mmMG253 guns), but the Turkish Army retains a large number of older vehicles. More than 2,800M48 Pattons are still in service (upgraded with the 105 mmM68 guns) though only around 1,300 of these are stored as reserve MBTs.[72] The rest of the M48s are mostly transformed into other types of military vehicles (such as cranes, MBT recovery vehicles and logistical support vehicles) or used as spare parts resources.
Turkey plans to build a total of 1,000 newOtokar Altay MBTs, in four separate batches of 250 units, with theMİTÜP Turkish National Tank Project.[73] The tanks will be produced by the Turkish firmOtokar, and share some of the systems that are used in theK2 Black Panther main battle tank ofSouth Korea.
Turkey has signed an agreement with the US to buy fourteen CH-47F Chinook helicopters, for $400 million. Because of financial constraints, however, the Undersecretariat for the Defense Industry, or SSM, Turkey's procurement agency, later wanted to only buy six CH-47Fs, five for the Army and one for theSpecial Forces, leaving a decision on the remaining eight platforms for the future. Contract negotiations between the SSM, the U.S. government and Boeing were launched in July 2011.[74]
The length ofcompulsory military service is six months for private and non-commissioned soldiers (the service term for reserve officers chosen among university or college graduates is 12 months). All male Turkish citizens over the age of 20 are required to undergo a one-month military training period, but they can obtain an exemption from the remaining five months of their mandatory service with a paid exemption option.[75]
Turkey has chosen a Chinese defence firm to co-produce a US$4 billion long-range air and missile defence systemFD-2000, rejecting rival bids from Russian, US and European firms. The Turkish defence minister announced the decision to award the contract to China Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp (CPMIEC) in a statement on Thursday, September 26, 2013.[76][77] NATO has said that missiles should be compatible.[78]
In 2017, Turkey has bought the anti-aircraftS-400 missile system from Russia.[79]
The structure of the Turkish Army has historically had two facets: operational and administrative. The operational chain consists of the field fighting formations, and the administrative the arms and service branches – infantry, armour, artillery etc.
The army's 14 armoured brigades were the most powerful brigades after the reorganization of the early 1990s; each includes 2 armoured, 2 mechanised infantry and 2 self-propelled artillery battalions.[80] In late 1994, the 17 mechanised brigades each have 1 armoured, 2 mechanised and one artillery battalion. The army's nine infantry brigades each had 4 infantry battalions and one artillery battalion, while the 4 commando brigades had 3 commando battalions.
From 1992 the Army began to change from a corps-division-regiment structure to a corps-brigade arrangement, retaining only three divisions.[80] Divisions remained on Cyprus and for certain special other cases, such as for NATO's reaction forces. In accordance with NATO's new strategy in the early 1990s, Turkey agreed to commit forces to NATO'sACE Rapid Reaction Corps. Therefore, the decision was made to create a new division. The old 1 Inf Div which had been abolished many years ago was reactivated and renamed as 1 TU Mech Inf Div and attached to 4 TU Corps on 30 November 1993.[81] This division appears to have been replaced within3rd Corps by the 52nd Armoured Division, formed later on.
The Military Balance, 1994–1995 also lists the following units: thePresidential Guard Regiment, an infantry regiment, 5 border defense regiments (Brigades (?)), and 26 border defense battalions. The fate of these independent units under the reorganization remains unclear.
In late 2002, the3rd Corps, with its headquarters near Istanbul, was certified as one of the sixNATO High Readiness Force-Land (HRF-L) headquarters and gained the additional title of the Rapidly Deployable Turkish Corps (RDTC). A year later,Jane's Defence Weekly reported on 9 July 2003 that as part of force restructuring, its 4 existing armies would be reorganized into a Western Army, in Istanbul, and the Eastern Army would replace 2nd Army in Malatya.[82] This plan does not appear to have been carried out.
The Army announced plans in mid-2004 to abolish four brigades across Turkey.[83] The arms and equipment of the brigades closed were to be kept in depots. The plan involved the disbandment of:
TheIISS Military Balance 2008 listed the Turkish Land Forces with four Army headquarters (HQ), 10 corps HQ, 17 armoured brigades, 15 mechanised infantry brigades, two infantry divisions, 11 infantry brigades, one Special Force command HQ, five commando brigades, one combat helicopter battalion, four aviation regiments, three aviation battalions (totalling 1 transport and 2 training battalions), and 4 training/artillery brigades.[72]
By 2022 the force included four army HQs, nine corps HQs, eight commando brigades, one mountain commando brigade, one commando regiment, one armoured division, seven armoured brigades, two mechanised divisions, 14 mechanised brigades, one motorised infantry division with three motorised regiments, seven motorised infantry brigades, two artillery, one training artillery brigades, six artillery regiments, two engineer regiments, four aviation regiments, and four aviation battalions.[84]
A basic organigram on the official Turkish Land Forces (Turkish:Kara Kuvvetleri Komutanlığı (KKK)) website shows the First, Second, Third, andAegean Armies, the 4th Corps, theforce in Northern Cyprus, the Training and Doctrine Command, and the Logistics Command as directly subordinated to the Chief of the Land Forces.
The Turkish Army is organised into the following commands:[85]
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The Ottoman and Turkish Armies (TLF) have used a wide range of equipment and vehicles in the 20th and 21st centuries. Among them was the venerable and reliableVickers machine gun, introduced afterWorld War I.[90]
Turkish Land Forces hasNATO-compatible rank system.
| NATO code | OF-10 | OF-9 | OF-8 | OF-7 | OF-6 | OF-5 | OF-4 | OF-3 | OF-2 | OF-1 | ||||||||||||||
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| Mareşal | Orgeneral | Korgeneral | Tümgeneral | Tuğgeneral | Albay | Yarbay | Binbaşı | Yüzbaşı | Üsteğmen | Teğmen | Asteğmen | |||||||||||||
| NATO code | OR-9 | OR-8 | OR-7 | OR-6 | OR-5 | OR-4 | OR-3 | OR-2 | OR-1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turkish Land Forces[91] |  |  |  |  |  |  | _2020.svg) |  |  |  |  | No insignia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Astsubay kıdemli başçavuş | Astsubay başçavuş | Astsubay kıdemli üstçavuş | Astsubay üstçavuş | Astsubay kıdemli çavuş | Astsubay çavuş | Astsubay astçavuş | Uzman çavuş | Çavuş | Uzman onbaşı | Onbaşı | Er | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The first orderly and disciplined formation of the Turkish Army dates back to 209 BC, during the Great Hun Empire; the greatest units in this organization were the divisions made up of 10,000 soldiers, divisions were further divided into smaller units composed of a thousand, hundred, and ten soldiers.
Bu sebeple yeni ordunun asker temini, askerlik süresi,talim, kıyafet, emeklilik ve benzeri gibi konuları açıklığa kovuşturmak ve genel bir çerçeve çizmek adına 7 Temmuz 1826'da Asâkir-i Mansûre-i Muhammediye Kanunnamesi yayınlanmıştır
1826'da Yeniçeri Ocağı'nın kaldırılmasının ardından kurulan yeni ordu ve askerî teşkilâtla birlikte serasker Osmanlı kara ordusunun en yüksek rütbeli kumandanının unvanı olmuştur.
Hüsrev Paşa, II. Mahmud'a yazdığı bir tezkirede Fransa'daki Ecole Militaire tarzında bir askerî mektebin açılmasının ve Avrupa'dan askerî öğretmen getirtilmesinin lüzumunu dile getiriyordu (BA, HH, nr. 17700-A).
Abdülmecid ise yeni ordunun adını kendi istek ve önerisi ile 14 Haziran 1843'te Asâkir-i Nizâmiye-i Şâhâne olarak değiştirmiştir
14 Temmuz 1954 tarihinde, 1847 yılında eğitimine başlayan Harp Akademileri Komutanlığına bağlı olarak "Müşterek Harp Akademisi" adı ile kurulmuş ve 14 Ekim 1954 tarihinde Yıldız Sarayı'nda öğretime başlamıştır. 25 Haziran 1956 tarihinde adı "Yüksek Komuta Akademisi" olarak değiştirilmiştir. 07 Ağustos 1964 tarihinde ise "Silahlı Kuvvetler Akademisi (SKA)" adını almıştır.
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