The Turkish Army or TA for short is actually called The Turkish Land Forces (Türk Kara Kuvvetleri). If you want to know more about Turkish Army Power read on here for more information and facts…
The Turks have been a mammoth empire formerly. Today it may not be a force to reckon with in comparison to such giants as US, Russia, China and India, but it has been the historical “strong contender” for the award of most ferocious army in times of conflict with the ancient and medieval civilizations of these same countries.
Turkish Army Power
Today’s Turkish Army is 20 years old and has one of the biggest soldier headcounts. It has a budget of $46 Billion which is 5% of Turkey’s GDP. Turkey, though is an Islamic country in the middle-east, it is like a gateway to Europe and is very liberal compared to its neighbors. Similarly its army is also significantly more sophisticated and less bound by dictatorial rules. The Turkish Army is also the second largest army in NATO.
TA is capable of quick and rapid joint operations in times of emergencies and anti-terror missions. It has the capability to deploy over six battalions for transport through air, 24 hours a day.
Structure of Turkish Army Power
TA is structured in two areas: Operational and Administrative. These are not to be confused with mute Operations or Administration jobs. The operational chain includes field combat formations and the administrative includes infantry, artillery and armor among other things. From 1992 onwards, TA changed to a corps-brigade from a corps-division-regiment structure. The administrative branch is divided into Combatant Battle, Support and Service categories.
• Combatant (Cavalry Regular Staff, Armory Division, Army Air Force)
• Support (Correspondence, Artillery, Air Defense, Intel)
• Service (Comm, Ammo, Supplies And Logistics, Personnel and HRD, Map-making, Transportation, Finance, Instruction, Legal Positions, Military Musicians, Medics, Chemists, Pharma and Vet Corps, Engineers and Technician Corps)
The Kara Kuvvetleri Komutanlığı includes 1st Army Command stationed at Istanbul, 2nd AC Malatya, 3rd AC Erzincan, 4th AC Aegean Army Command stationed at Izmir, Cyprus Turkish Forces Command at Kyrenia, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Training and Doctrine Command; Logistics Command; Turkish Military Academy all three at Ankara and finally the Army Aviation Command that flies the fleet of helicopters and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles deployed by the Turkish Army)
TA has 14 armored brigades, which are the best and most powerful in the new organization; each is equipped with two armored, two self-propelled artillery and two mechanized infantry battalions. Each of the 17 mechanized brigades is equipped with two mechanized, two armored and one artillery battalion. TA’s nine infantry brigades is equipped with 4 infantry specialized battalions and one artillery firepower battalion, while the four black-cat commando brigades have three commando battalions.
