| Third Army | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Active | October 1923 – present |
| Country | Turkey |
| Size | 80.000 active personnel |
| Part of | Turkish Army |
| Garrison/HQ | Erzincan |
| Patron | Citizens of the Republic of Turkey |
| Engagements | Sheikh Said rebellion Ararat rebellion |
| Commanders | |
| Commander | Lieutenant General Yavuz Türkgenci |
| Chief of staff | Major General Davut Ala |
| Notable commanders | Cevat Çobanlı (1923–1924) Kâzım İnanç (1925) İzzettin Çalışlar (1925–1933) Ali Sait Akbaytoğan (1933–1935) Kâzım Orbay (1935–1943) Mustafa Muğlalı (1943–1945) Sabit Noyan (1945–1946) Kurtcebe Noyan (1946–1948) |
TheTurkish Third Army is afield army of theTurkish Army and is the country's largest army.[citation needed]
The Third Army traces its origins to 1923, but further back, theNinth Army Troops Inspectorate was redesignated the Third Army Troops Inspectorate on 15 June 1919.
TheMuğlalı incident was amassacre of 32Kurdish andKüresünni civilians in July 1943, inÖzalp,Van. They were executed for alleged animal smuggling on the orders of the army commander, GeneralMustafa Muğlalı.[1] Muğlalı was charged years later but died in prison awaiting trail.
GeneralRagıp Gümüşpala commanded the army between 1958 and 1960. In the days of the Soviet Union the Third Army was stationed on theCaucasus border to counter any Soviet attack by theTranscaucasus Military District. In 1973 the Army, with headquarters atErzincan, had the8th Corps atElazığ (including the12th Infantry Division (Turkey), today 12th Mechanised Infantry Brigade atAğrı[2]), the9th Corps atErzurum (including 9th Infantry Division atSarıkamış (which was active to at least 1996), and the 11th Corps atTrabzon.
After 1974–75 and theTurkish invasion of Cyprus 11th Corps headquarters was moved to North Cyprus.
Following the dissolution of theWarsaw Pact and the Soviet Union, theGeneral Staff decided to send 120,000 men of the Third Army to the border with Iraq. This was done in order to increase readiness against any possible crisis in the area (such as during thePersian Gulf War andIraq War). Most of the armored, mechanized, and commando brigades are located in the central region in order to act rapidly into any scenario around Turkey's borders.[3] Today, the army garrisons the Turkish borders with Armenia andGeorgia.
Some 300 men from the Third Army were sent to serve alongside theUnited Nations troops in Somalia (UNITAF/UNOSOM II). In addition, Lieutenant GeneralCevik Bir, who had previously commanded the army's4th Armoured Brigade, became Force Commander ofUNOSOM II (1992–95).
9th Infantry Division was seemingly disbanded in 2005. A Russian source in 2007 gave the following details on the army:[4]
"the 3rd Field Army, consist[s] of 8th and 9th Army Corps, 48th Separate Infantry Brigade, 4th Separate Armoured Brigade."9th Army Corps, which has in its composition: the 3rd infantry division, 7th, 14th, 25th separate mechanized brigade, separate mechanized infantry battalion, a separate tank battalion, deployed in the area Argadan, Kagysman, Erzurum, along the Turkish-Georgian and Armenian–Turkish border. 8th Army Corps has in its composition: 10th separate infantry brigade, 1st, 12th (Ağrı), 34th, 42nd Mechanized Brigades, 9th Separate Armored Brigade and 151st Artillery Regiment IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guard), located along the Turkish–Iranian border."
In June 1941, the Third Army was organized as follows:[5]
 Turkish Army Formations | |||||||
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| Commands |
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| 1st Army |
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| 2nd Army |
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| 3rd Army |
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| Aegean Army |
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