The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF; Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri, TSK) are the military forces of the Republic of Turkey. The Turkish Armed Forces consist of the General Staff, the Land Forces, the Naval Forces and the Air Forces. The Chief of the General Staff is the Commander of the Armed Forces. In wartime, the Chief of the General Staff acts as the Commander-in-Chief on behalf of the President, who represents the Supreme Military Command of the TAF on behalf of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Coordinating the military relations of the TAF with other NATO member states and friendly states is the responsibility of the General Staff.
The history of the Turkish Armed Forces began with its formation after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The Turkish military perceived itself as the guardian of Kemalism, the official state ideology, especially of its emphasis on secularism. After becoming a member of NATO in 1952, Turkey initiated a comprehensive modernization program for its armed forces. The Turkish Army sent 14,936 troops to fight in the Korean War alongside South Korea and NATO. Towards the end of the 1980s, a second restructuring process was initiated. The Turkish Armed Forces participate in an EU Battlegroup under the control of the European Council, the Italian-Romanian-Turkish Battlegroup. The TAF also contributes operational staff to the Eurocorps multinational army corps initiative of the EU and NATO.
The Turkish Armed Forces is the second largest standing military force in NATO, after the U.S. Armed Forces, and the thirteenth in the world, with an estimated strength of 775,000 military and paramilitary personnel in 2022.
Turkey is one of five NATO member states which are part of the nuclear sharing policy of the alliance, together with Belgium, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. A total of 50 U.S. B61 nuclear bombs are hosted at the Incirlik Air Base, the most of the five countries.
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Turkey (Türkiye, ˈtyɾcije), officially the Republic of Türkiye (Türkiye Cumhuriyeti ˈtyɾcije dʒumˈhuːɾijeti), is a country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in West Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran to the east; Iraq to the southeast; Syria and the Mediterranean Sea to the south; the Aegean Sea to the west; and Greece and Bulgaria to the northwest. Cyprus is off the south coast.
The Turkish Land Forces (Türk Kara Kuvvetleri), or Turkish Army (Turkish: Türk Kara Ordusu), is the main branch of the Turkish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The army was formed on November 8, 1920, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Significant campaigns since the foundation of the army include suppression of rebellions in Turkish Kurdistan from the 1920s to the present day, combat in the Korean War, the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus and the current Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War, as well as its NATO alliance against the USSR during the Cold War.
The Turkish Air Force () is the aerial warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. It traces its origins to June 1911 when it was founded as the Ottoman Aviation Squadrons by the Ottoman Empire. It was composed of the Army Aviation Squadrons founded in 1911, and the Naval Aviation Squadrons founded in 1914 which used seaplanes. The Air Force as a branch of the Turkish Armed Forces was founded by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on 23 April 1920. It is considered to be the third largest air force in NATO.
Turkey has been allowing immigrants from the early years of the republic. Most immigrants were from Greece due to the nation building policies after Lausanne Peace Agreement of 1923, forced to displacement through population exchanges between Turkey and Gr ...