IMPORTANT NOTE: A respectable online encyclopedia which is widely used by internet users all over the world has been stealing the information contained in this site. This includes not only the numbers I provide and update but also my short comments regarding the weapons systems in the inventory. The web site I am talking about is WIKIPEDIA. If my site had not been hosted on a freeserver, thus, protected by copyright regulations, I would have sued them as I believe what they are doing is a fellony. However, in order to adopt a more constructive way of action, I simply added a link to my site in the "Sources" sections of their relevant pages. The Wikipedia moderator responsible for the Turkish Armed Forces pages, namely "e104421", keeps on deleting the links to my web site from the sources and my efforts to explain to him the situation proved futile. He simply does not acknowledge the fact that the information they provide has been copied and pasted to the letter without my permission. His incapacity to update the inventory figures makes the situation even more complicated as he ends up providing the old and outdated figures at the end of the day. Unfortunately, many other web sites and/or internet forums receive the information directly from Wikipedia. Therefore, if my site is indicated as a source, it appears on all these web sites, but when the link to my site is removed, people do not even know that the actual source is noone else but me! This is called abuse of power, virtual theft or whatever you may name it...
Warrior Soul
TURKISH ARMED FORCES
Turkish Armed Forces has been structured to accomodate four command
headquarters, Land Forces Command, Naval Forces Command, Air Forces Command and
Gendarmerie Command, all of which are under the command of the General Staff Headquarters.
General Staff HQ is the home to the military decision-makers and headed by the Chief of
the General Staff.
Turkey is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) since 1952 and has
been the spearhead of the south-eastern flank of the alliance during the Cold War.
Therefore, Turkish Armed Forces has been trained and equipped within NATO standards with
the purpose of countering a Soviet offensive and holding the south-eastern border of the
alliance until the arrival of NATO reinforcements.
Most of the equipment and weapons systems used by the Turkish Armed Forces is of US
origin. Today, other main weapons suppliers of Turkey other than the US are Germany,
Israel, England and to a certain extent France and Russia. However, Turkey is also making progress in
establishing its own defense industries and paving the way for a self-sufficient
industrial base. At present, rather than arms procurement via direct purchases, Turkey
seeks to jointly manufacture the weapons systems under licensed production, which would
allow for technology transfer. It also carries out its own indegenious projects and even
exports the end-products to other countries.
There is a traditional drafting system in Turkey, thus every male Turkish citizen is
obliged to fulfill his military duty. The duty rank and period vary depending on the
educational status. In other words, university graduates carry out their duties as
officers whereas citizens on lesser educational levels do it as privates. Currently, duty
periods for officers and privates are 12 months and 15 months, respectively.
On the other hand, Turkey is in process of shrinking the size of its armed forces, but at
the same time turning it into a more technologically-advanced force with better striking
capability.
This site aims to serve as an inventory book of the Turkish Armed Forces. It also contains some information on the future projects as well as on the operations carried out by the Turkish Armed Forces. While going through the inventories listed, please take note of the following:
"?" indicates that the system is in use but the number is unknown.
"0" indicates that the system is not yet in use.
"X+" indicates that there are at least X systems in use.
"< X" indicates that there are less than X systems in use.
The site will be frequently updated to reflect the changes in the inventory and the status of the future projects.
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