Turk Kara Kuvvetleri, the Turkish Land Forces in 2300AD

By Demetrios Rammos

INTRODUCTION

Having suffered heavily during the 3rd world war and in the decades after it, Turkey despite considerable loss of territory in the east has emerged as a considerable and populous regional power that can’t be ignored in the regions politics. With relations with most countries bordering it problematic Turkey maintains one of the largest armies in South Eastern Europe and the Middle East. While inferior in quality compared to some of the other armies of the region like Georgia, Iran or Greece the Turkish army remains a large well trained and armed force and a dangerous enemy to any opponent.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements
Narrative
Terminology
Order of Battle
Background
Recent Military Actions
Foreign relations and off Earth commitments
Defence issues
Organization
Divisions and other notable units
Personnel and Rank structure
Notes
Equipment
Appendix A. Heavy division organization

Acknowledgements

The all too many writers on Etranger from whom I shamelessly borrowed weapons systems and ideas. Dan Hebditch for hosting this in addition to the above. Mitteleuropa and the Multinational commission for Garten are both ideas of Randy McDonald.

Narrative

The Armenian column was speeding along the road to the west of Kars as if it had nothing in the world to fear. The 80mm round that struck the first vehicle, at about the same time a plasma gun burned through the last vehicle thus immobilizing the whole column. The soldiers with the column, about a platoon’s worth of men rushed out of the vehicles and opened up but the whole column was already under a hail fire as the platoon sprang its trap vehicle after vehicle start blowing up. Second lieutenant Altay, Alpha Company, 3rd battalion, Jandarma Komando Tugay allowed himself a smile as he signalled his men to get going, no reason to give the Armenian army time to react.

The smile froze as two Ti-4 Medved gunships suddenly appeared from behind a ridge. His anti-air team reacted with commendable speed firing an Akrep missile after the first Medved within secondsonly for the Taiga point defence to take it out while the two gunships were opening up with missiles and plasma guns ignoring the small arms fire from his own men. His own air cover was still some minutes away…

 Excerps, Death in the Caucasus
Serbia News Online, December 2302

 

Terminology

Abbreviation

Full

Meaning

OKK

Ozel Kuvvetler Komutanligi

Special forces Command

MAK

Muharebe Arama Kurtarma

Combat Search and Resque

SAT

Su Alti Taaruz

Underwater Assault Teams

 

Ordu

Army

 

Kolordu

Corps

 

Tümen

Division

 

Tugay

Brigade

 

Zýrhlý Süvari Tümen

Armoured Cavalry Division

 

Zýrhlý Tümen

Armoured Division

 

Mekanize Piyade Tümen

Mechanized Infantry Division

 

Piyade Tümen

Infantry Division Brigade

 

Amfibi Deniz Piyade Tümen

Amphibious division Brigade

 

Zýrhlý Süvari Tugay

Armoured Cavalry Brigade

 

Zýrhlý Tugay

Armoured Brigade Brigade

 

Mekanize Piyade Tugay

Mechanized Infantry Brigade

 

Piyade Tugay

Infantry Brigade

 

Amfibi Deniz Piyade Tugay

Amphibious Brigade

 

Komando Tugay

Commando Brigade

 

Hava Indirme Komando Tugay

Airborne Commando Brigade

 

Havacýlýk Tugay

Aviation Brigade

 

Jandarma Piyade Tümen

Gendarmerie infantry Division

 

Jandarma Piyade Tugay

Gendarmerie infantry Brigade

INDEX

ORDER OF BATTLE

Land Forces Command

Ozel Kuvvetler Komutanligi (OKK)

Muharebe Arama Kurtarma (MAK)
Su Alti Taaruz (SAT)

Amfibi Deniz Piyade Tümen

1 Amfibi Deniz Piyade
5 Anfibi Deniz Piyade

Hava Indirme Komando Tümen

4th Havacýlýk Tugay
5th Havacýlýk Tugay
6th Havacýlýk Tugay
Air Defence Rgt

1st Ordu

2nd Kolordu

52nd Zýrhlý Süvari Tümen

8th Zýrhlý Süvari Tugay
11th Zýrhlý Süvari Tugay
23rd Mekanize Piyade Tugay

8th Mekanize Piyade Tümen

12th Zýrhlý Süvari Tugay
4th Mekanize Piyade Tugay
8th Mekanize Piyade Tugay

66th Mekanize Piyade Tümen

13th Zýrhlý Süvari Tugay
6th Mekanize Piyade Tugay
66th Mekanize Piyade Tugay

102nd Artillery Regiment
1st Heavy Tank Battalion
546th Engineer Battalion

3rd Kolordu

1st Zýrhlý Tümen

2nd Zýrhlý Tugay
18th Zýrhlý Tugay
1st Piyade Tugay

2nd Piyade Tümen

95th Zýrhlý Tugay
48th Piyade Tugay
11th Piyade Tugay

4th Piyade Tümen

1st Zýrhlý Tugay
19th Piyade Tugay
2nd Piyade Tugay

105th Artillery Regiment
2nd Heavy Tank Battalion
547th Engineer Battalion

5th Kolordu (Reserve)

58th Zýrhlý Süvari Tümen

15th Zýrhlý Süvari Tugay
16th Zýrhlý Süvari Tugay
65th Mekanize Piyade Tugay

3rd Mekanize Piyade Tümen

17th Zýrhlý Süvari Tugay
54th Mekanize Piyade Tugay
55th Mekanize Piyade Tugay

6th Mekanize Piyade Tümen

18th Zýrhlý Süvari Tugay
1st Mekanize Piyade Tugay
12th Mekanize Piyade Tugay

109th Artillery Regiment
3rd Heavy Tank Battalion
548th Engineer Battalion

1st Komando Tugay

1st Havacýlýk Tugay
24th ADA battalion
1st MI battalion
1st Engineer regiment

2nd Ordu

11th Kolordu

2nd Zýrhlý Tümen

3rd Zýrhlý Tugay
5th Zýrhlý Tugay
229th Piyade Tugay

28th Piyade Tümen

4th Zýrhlý Tugay
29th Piyade Tugay
51st Piyade Tugay

39th Piyade Tümen (Reserve)

14th Zýrhlý Tugay
16th Piyade Tugay
20th Piyade Tugay

9th Artillery regiment
4th Heavy Tank Battalion
549th Engineer Battalion

15th Kolordu

53rd Zýrhlý Süvari Tümen

19th Zýrhlý Süvari Tugay
20th Zýrhlý Süvari Tugay
14th Mekanize Piyade Tugay

23rd Mekanize Piyade Tümen

21st Zýrhlý Süvari Tugay
9th Mekanize Piyade Tugay
25th Mekanize Piyade Tugay

33rd Mekanize Piyade Tümen

22nd Zýrhlý Süvari Tugay
28th Mekanize Piyade Tugay
47th Mekanize Piyade Tugay

106th Artillery regiment
5th Heavy Tank Battalion
550th Engineer Battalion
 

6th Kolordu (Reserve)

54th Zýrhlý Süvari Tümen

23rd Zýrhlý Süvari Tugay
24th Zýrhlý Süvari Tugay
61st Mekanize Piyade Tugay

61st Mekanize Piyade Tümen

25th Zýrhlý Süvari Tugay
33rd Mekanize Piyade Tugay
7th Mekanize Piyade Tugay

65th Piyade Tümen

26th Zýrhlý Tugay
17th Piyade Tugay
41st Piyade Tugay

107th Artillery regiment
6th Heavy Tank Battalion
551st Engineer Battalion

2nd Komando Tugay

2nd Havacýlýk Tugay
25th ADA battalion
2nd MI battalion
2nd Engineer regiment

3rd Ordu

9th Kolordu

3rd Zýrhlý Tümen

66th Zýrhlý Tugay
10th Zýrhlý Tugay
71st Piyade Tugay

9th Piyade Tümen

9th Zýrhlý Tugay
27th Piyade Tugay
39th Piyade Tugay

1st Piyade Tümen (Reserve)

220th Zýrhlý Tugay
70th Piyade Tugay
49th Piyade Tugay

115th Artillery regiment
7th Heavy Tank Battalion
552nd Engineer Battalion

8th Jandarma Kolordu

12th Jandarma Piyade Tümen

211th Jandarma Piyade Tugay
5th Jandarma Piyade Tugay
15th Jandarma Piyade Tugay

29th Jandarma Piyade Tümen

62nd Jandarma Piyade Tugay
3rd Jandarma Piyade Tugay
21st Jandarma Piyade Tugay

51st Jandarma Piyade Tümen (Reserve)

22nd Jandarma Piyade Tugay
212th Jandarma Piyade Tugay
213th Jandarma Piyade Tugay

Jandarma Komando Tugay

4th Zýrhlý Tümen (Reserve)

6th Zýrhlý Tugay
7th Zýrhlý Tugay
10th Piyade Tugay

3rd Komando Tugay

3rd Havacýlýk Tugay
26th ADA battalion
3rd MI battalion
3rd Engineer regiment

INDEX

BACKGROUND

A NATO member since 1952 and with traditionally troubled relations with Russia and Bulgaria, Turkey supported the German aggression against the Warsaw Pact and joined the 3rd world war by invading Bulgaria in December 1996. Highly successful initially and in view of continuing NATO success elsewhere Turkey invaded Cyprus in January 1997 capturing most of the island but finding itself at war with Greece as a result. Things would deteriorate from there with Turkey blockaded by the Greek navy and the land front in Thrace stalemated.

When the war became nuclear Turkey was subjected to multiple Soviet nuclear attacks against strategic targets and the Soviet, Bulgarian and Greek armies supported by tactical nuclear weapons overrun Turkish Thrace destroying Turkish forces in Europe. By the end of the war Turkey was in shambles central authority breaking down.

Recovering from the 3rd World War took most of the 21st century and was aided to no small extend by what was to become the Confederation of Palestine. By the time the 2nd Turkish republic was officially proclaimed in 2090 Turkey had lost extensive territory to Armenia and independent Kurdistan in the east. Borders in the west despite 3 wars between Greece and Turkey and more between Turkey and Bulgaria since the end of the Twilight era have seen only minimal changes from the line they were following in 1947. Most notably the west border strictly follows the Tunza and Ebros rivers eliminating the small 20th Turkish bridgehead to the west of them while the northern Turkish-Bulgarian is somewhat to the north. As see the former Greek island of Castelorizo is now part of Turkey and the former Turkish islands of Imbros and Tenedos part of Greece. In Cyprus Turkey controls an area of roughly 1,000 square km centered in the Carpasia peninsula.

Modern Turkey is a reasonably prosperous country playing an important part in regional politics and with its own not inconsiderable presence in space. Turkey is closely allied to Kurdistan and the Confederation of Palestine and more loosely allied to Iran as well.

Recent Military Actions

The Turkish army has been involved on way or the other in several wars during the past 60 years.

The 2nd Aegean war (2243): Coming over 80 years after the 1st Aegean war between Greece and Turkey the war would catch the Greek armed forces unprepared as relations with Turkey had been generally cordial for nearly all the way to the late 2230s. With Turkish-Bulgarian relations considerably worse the war was sparked by a border incident between Turkish and Bulgarian forces quickly expanding to include the other Aimos Union members as well as the Confederation of Palestine, Hungary and Croatia. The Turkish army made considerable inroads into Bulgarian and Greek Thrace before being checked by Greek counterattacks. In the Aegean Turkish hovermobile forces took advantage of the close proximity of the eastern Aegean islands to the Anatolian coast occupying Lesvos, Chios and Rhodes and a number of smaller islands but failing to take Samos before the Greek navy could intervene. Lesvos was lost again to Greek counterattack but the ceasefire left Turkey with the rest of its gains.

The Turkish-Armenian war (2249): Having suffered defeat in the 2nd Caucasus war back in 2214 Turkey in the aftermath of its victory in the 2nd Aegean war took advantage of border incidents between Armenian counter-guerrilla forces and Turkish Jandarma forces to declare war. The Turkish invasion was met with quick success initially but was stopped when Russian airborne forces where deployed in Armenia and Russia threatened to declare war outright. French mediation, or rather dictat from the Turkish point of view enforced a peace treaty along the front lines at the time of the ceasefire. These while recovering a considerable part of the territory lost in 2214 still left the rest, alongside Turkish and Kurdish minorities to Armenia. Australian and Mozambican troops were deployed in a buffer zone between the two countries a handful remaining to this day.

The Kurdish-Iraqi War (2260):  After war erupted between Iraq and Kurdistan, Turkey came to the Kurdish aid with elements of the Turkish 2nd and 3rd armies coming to the Kurds side. With Iraq also having to deal with CDF attack from the west the Iraqi northern army collapsed and a peace treaty was reached shortly afterwards.

The Kurdish-Armenian War (2267-2269):  Border incidents between Armenian and Kurdish troops erupted into a limited border war in 2267 after Armenian units crossed into Kurdistan during the incidents. Turkey and the Confederation of Palestine intervened on the Kurdish side and operations start escalating threatening more general war. Russian forces deployed to the Caucasus to intervene in Armenia in case of invasion, Greece while not openly threatening war moved forces in its border with Turkey and Armenia "lent" the services of the Stratiodi military corporation with Russian and Greek special operations operating under its cover, something both governments neither confirm nor deny to this day. Faced with the prospect of more general war, France, Russia and the Ukraine quickly brokered a cease-fire, with the deployment of a peacekeeping force from Australia and Mozambique to monitor the border for a period of seven years and hostilities ceased early in 2269.

The 3rd Aegean war (2274): The end result of mounting tensions ever since the time of the 2nd Aegean war, this war didn’t go particularly well for Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria had carefully prepared for a revanche for the past generation and Turkey had grown overconfident after an unbroken string of victories since the 2240s. Thus a crisis start by Turkey threatening to use force unless Bulgaria ceased its support to partisans in the parts of Bulgaria occupied back in 2243 quickly led to war. With the Greek navy and air force managing to deal severe blows on their Turkish counterparts in the early stages of the war, the army found itself in an adverse position with Greek amphibious operations recovering Chios and Rhodes and an Aimos offensive in Thrace capturing Adrianople and advancing to the outskirts of the Constantinople metroplex before Bavaria brokered a ceasefire and eventually a peace treaty re-establishing the pre 2243 borders.

3rd Arabian War (2280-1): Turkey was involved in the war in support of its Confederate allies initially deploying air force assets as well as the 1st Commando and Airborne Commando brigades. When Syria joined the war in late 2280 the Turkish 2nd army launched an offensive against Syria thus forcing it to deploy only limited forces against Lebanon.

Central Asian war (2282-2287): Officially neutral, Turkey’s sympathies much like Iran’s were firmly on the side of Manchuria and Uzbeks. While officially denied there exists solid proof of Turkish special forces having operated in Central Asia prior and during the war mostly to help train and arm Uzbek groups and the "Turan" volunteer brigade fought along the Manchurian army during the war. The Turkish government officially neither endorsed nor condemned the volunteers but the army was quite liberal in long term leaves to all officers and non-coms that wanted to join and it is rumoured that the brigade also received funding from the secret service throughout the war.

Kafer war (ongoing): The major Turkish concern is the security of its exclaves along the French arm. To that extend agreement has been reached with Germany to put the local garrisons under German command should the planets be threatened and Turkey has also provided a brigade sized expeditionary force that operates under German command. The small Turkish space force is operating in convoy support mostly in close cooperation with the Germans and Iranians but has not seen action yet.

INDEX

Foreign Relations and off Earth commitments in 2300

Turkey and Space

Turkey is a modestly sized interstellar power operating its own merchant marine, a small space force and owning two exclaves in Nibelungen and the German Beta Canum colony with populations of about 600,000 and 300,000 respectively. More recently Turkey is currently planning a colony of its own possibly with Kurdish and Palestinian participation and negotiations are ongoing with both Manchuria and the United States over Haifeng and Avalon respectively. The Turkish army maintains forces of varying size on both enclaves.

America and Australia: Relations are rather friendly but indifferent with both countries. There is considerable trade between Turkey and the two Anglo-Saxon countries and Turkey is one of the United States main arms customers as well.

Albania: Albania is something of a disappointment as far as Turkey is concerned. Albania could be a useful friend no less to create trouble for Greece and Serbia. But the communist regime’s extreme isolationism thwarts any plans towards that direction while a post communist regime wouldn’t be useful as it would be most likely under Italian influence.

Arabia: Relations could well be better. Turkey is closely allied with the Confederation of Palestine and rather friendly with Iran, both enemies of Arabia.

Azerbaijan: A ethnically close nation, relations are close and friendly but Azerbaijan lies closer to Iran than Turkey.

Britain: Turkey maintains cordial ties with Britain but not much can be said beyond that and the Turks generally prefer buying German or American systems when they choose to import something from the west.

Bulgaria: Relations are decidedly frosty and have been so for a long time. The two countries were on opposite sides during the 3rd world war and have repeatedly fought in the 3 centuries afterwards most recently during the 3rd Aegean war. Currently things are relatively quiet although mock dogfights between Bulgarian and Turkish fighter aircraft over the Black sea are not uncommon and the occasional exchange of fire between patrols on the border not unheard of. In the aftermath of the appearance of the Kafers things seem to be improving somewhat.

Confederation of Palestine: The Confederation is Turkey’s closest ally and has been so since the 21st century. Nowadays Turkey is clearly the stronger of the two. Turkey has repeatedly provided military support to the Confederation and so has done the Confederation. The Confederation is also operating as a useful intermediary with France.

France: Relations while proper can’t be considered to be particularly good. While more circumspect than Iran, Turkey would be anything than sorry to see French influence in its neighbourhood diminished and has much closer ties with Manchuria and Germany both of which have been at odds with Germany. Relations are further strained due to the close ties France maintains with a number of countries that are not particularly friendly to Turkey like Syria and Iraq.

Germany: Relations were varying from good to excellent with the various German states and have remained excellent after unification. Turkey was among the very first countries to recognise Germany.

Georgia: Relations are proper but given Georgia’s particularly close ties to France relations are neither particularly friendly nor particularly hostile. Still Georgia generally distances itself from the current Armenian-Turkish conflict and while both countries keep their mutual border militarized tensions are quite low.

Greece: While traditionally thought as "the Enemy" especially among less well informed foreign observers Greece and Turkey seem to be following a pendulum with decade long periods of peace and often cooperation followed by periods of intense antagonism. The unfortunate truth is the periods of antagonism always seem to come, perhaps not unexpectedly given the often conflicting geopolitical interests of the two countries and since the late 2230s the two countries are into a period of intense rivalry. Things might be changing with the appearance of the Kafer but it's too early to tell and both militaries still consider their counterparts in the wrong side of the Aegean as the most probable rival.

Iran: Despite occasional differences relations are close and friendly and while not allied the two countries have more often than not found themselves on the same side of various international rivalries.

Kurdistan: After an initially very troubled relationship the 2nd republic had to accept Kurdish independence especially after the attempts to bring Kurdistan down failed repeatedly during the 21st and early 22nd centuries. Post that the two countries have found common ground in traditional rivalry with Armenia as well as opposition to Syria and Iraq and are allied since the early 23rd century.

Manchuria: Relations are excellent as the two countries find common interest vis a vis Russia and to a secondary extend France. Manchuria is one of Turkey’s primary arms suppliers.

Romania and Serbia: Both countries are allies of Greece and Bulgaria and traditionally were not particularly fond of Turkey. Relations are proper but cold.

Russia: Relations vary from bad to frosty especially given Russian support to Armenia, her friendly ties with Turkey’s Balkan rivals and opposing interests in the Caucasus and Central Asia were Turkey has been taking a traditional interest for the Turkic populations there.

Syria and Iraq: Stabilized by France both countries are viewed as potential rivals of Turkey and have come to blows with Turkey relatively recently during the 3rd Arabian war and the Kurdish-Iraqi war. Relations are proper but frosty.

INDEX

DEFENCE ISSUES

Despite the improvement of relations after the appearance of the Kafer Greece, Bulgaria and by extension Serbia and Bulgaria are seen as potential enemies in view of the 2 wars fought in the past 60 years and the often conflicting geopolitical interests between Greece and Turkey.

On Turkey’s southern border Syria is also considered a potential adversary given the territorial disputes between the two countries over the Antioch/Hatay region and the differences between Syria and the Confederation of Palestine.

Armenia is considered too weak to be a threat but it certainly is a defence issue. Armenia recovered her Sevres treaty borders after the 3rd World war something the 2nd republic never reconciled with. But the current troubles are much more recent dating to 2214 when defeat in the 2nd Caucasus war left the victorious Armenians with a solid Turkish and Kurdish minority that is in the middle of an on and off insurgency since then. The end result is high tensions occasional raids back and forth as well as accusations between Ankara and Erevan on a regular basis. Worse from the Turkish point of view is that Russia stands behind Armenia and has made clear, repeatedly and in no uncertain terms, that it will defend Armenia should things go out of hand.

Turkey’s defence commitments to Kurdistan and the Confederation of Palestine also mean that the country can potentially find itself in conflict with Arabia and Iraq in support of its allies.

INDEX

ORGANIZATION

The Turkish land forces include the army the Jandarma and the navy’s amphibious division. The Jandarma command structure is integrated with that of the army in time of war and in practice also during peacetime while the amphibious division trains and operates alongside the army.

The Land forces are organized into 3 armies. The 1st army is responsible for Thrace and Western Anatolia and would bear the brunt of the fighting in any war against Greece and Bulgaria. The 3rd army is covering the Caucasus border including support of Kurdistan. The 2nd army is responsible for the south and the Syrian border with secondary tasks in support of the 1st army and Kurdish southern frontier. Special operations forces, the amphibious division and the airborne brigade are under direct control of the general staff.

Divisions are usually controlling 3 brigades each in addition to an artillery battalion, an air defence battalion an engineer battalion and a reconnaissance battalion. Armoured Cavalry and Mechanized infantry formations are using hover vehicles while Armoured and Infantry formations are using tracked or wheeled vehicles. The Jandarma divisions are more lightly organized as motorized forces to operate in the eastern frontier. Armoured divisions have two armoured and 1 infantry brigade with the ratio reversed for infantry divisions.

Armoured and Armoured Cavalry brigades are organized into 2 tank and 2 infantry battalions in addition to a reconnaissance company and an artillery battalion. Each tank battalion has 42 tanks in 4 tank battalions plus a 2 tank command section. Infantry battalions are organized into 4 rifle companies each with 15 infantry fighting vehicles in addition to a 3 vehicle command section. Platoon organization is generally similar to that found in the army of the confederation of Palestine.

Infantry and Mechanized Infantry brigades are organized into 1 tank and 3 infantry battalions in addition to a reconnaissance company and an artillery battalion each. Infantry and tank battalions have the same organization with these in the armoured formations.

The Jandarma brigades consist of one heavy infantry battalion, similar to these found in infantry brigades and 3 lighter motorized battalions relying on soft skinned vehicles for their mobility in addition to an artillery battalion. Each Jandarma battalion has in turn 4 infantry companies in addition to a headquarters company.

The commando and airborne brigades are organized as light infantry formations each with 4 commando battalions and 1 light artillery battalion in addition to air defence, reconnaissance and combat engineer companies.

The 2 amphibious infantry companies are dedicated as marines. They have 4 battalions each, 2 of commandos and 2 of hovermobile infantry in addition to 1 artillery battalion, and air defence, combat engineer and reconnaissance companies.

INDEX

NOTABLE UNITS

1st Ordu

The 1st army technically dates to the establishment of the Nizam I Cedid formations back at the time of sultan Mahmud in the 19th century. Since then it has seen action in two world wars and numerous other conflicts. Today the army consists of 3 corps with 3 tank and 6 infantry divisions in wartime and is dedicated with fighting the Aimos Union nations, in particular Greece and Bulgaria. One corps each is stationed opposite to the Greek and Bulgarian borders respectively with 2nd corps in the straits area forming the army’s general reserve.

 

52nd Zύrhlύ Sόvari Tόmen

 

The 52nd armoured cavalry division was first organized and a tank division in the eve of the 3rd World War, seeing extensive action in the fighting against Bulgaria before being largely destroyed by the Soviet counterattack into Thrace. Reorganized afterwards as a cavalry unit it show extensive action in the campaigns that restored central government during the 21st century and has since seen action in most of the wars Turkey found itself during the 22nd and 23rd centuries. Nowadays the division is part of the 2nd Corps of the 1st army. As the corps main striking force the division is often thought as the army’s strategic reserve. As such it is getting the cream of new material, currently it is the only unit fully converted to the Mk-7 Firtina (LkPz-9) hovertank, as well as being considered a plush assignment from conscripts and career personnel alike.

 

Ozel Kuvvetler Komutanligi (OKK)

 
The special operations forces of the Turkish army OKK’s main task is infiltration and counter- infiltration operations of all kinds both in peace and wartime in close cooperation with MIT, Turkey’s secret service. As such it is often cooperating with the CPDF 822nd Recce battalion, its counterpart in Confederation of Palestine service and less often with the Iranians. OKK elements have seen action from central Asia and the Caucasus to the Middle East and the Balkans in support of Turkish interests.

Hava Indirme Komando Tümen 

While Turkey’s paratroopers date back to the 20th century first seeing action in the 1974 invasion of Cyprus the division is a much more recent creation, established along with the 6th Para brigade in 2240 and seeing action for the first action shortly afterwards when it 4th and 6th brigades spearheaded the assault on Rhodes. Widely considered the elite of the army the division has since seen action in every conflict Turkey fought

 

Jandarma Komando Tugay

 

The jandarma, the Turkish gendarmerie has been practically an arm of the nations armed forces since her establishment, dedicated to internal security and seeing extensive counter-insurgency action through the years, including the time of the Twilight war. Currently the Jandarma corps is tasked with protecting the volatile Turkish-Armenian border and the commando brigade is the elite of the corps officially intended as a rapid reaction force for the corps against Armenian cross-border raids and infiltration. In practice the brigade is actively supporting Turkish insurgents on the Armenian side of the border.

INDEX

PERSONNEL AND RANK STRUCTURE

The Turkish army is based on conscription with a cadre of professional officers and noncoms. Conscription is universal at the age of 18 or no later than 24 for college graduates but in practice only a fraction of the prospective conscripts, usually around 15% each year find their way to the army with a smaller fraction going to the air force and navy and the rest to various civil services. Generally service is thus voluntary and more often than not serving with the military is rather more common in rural than in urban areas. There is also a tendency for the better educated conscripts that don’t go to the civil service to find their way in the air force and the navy instead of the army.

National service is 36 month long including a 6 month period of basic training. After its completion soldiers join the reserves. Reservists are subject to periodic recalls for training usually of 2 weeks every second year till the age of 30 and 1 week every third year till the age of 40.

Noncoms for the combat arms are chosen from promising recruits after they complete 2 years in the ranks. For the non combat arms noncoms are chosen after completing 1 year in the ranks and usually from college educated soldiers. Candidates are then sent to the army’s Basic NCO course from where they graduate as either corporals or sergeants. Upon completion of the service sergeants can re-enlist for active duty according to the needs of the service usually under a 5 year contract that can be renewed later. Ranks above that of sergeant are thus entirely professionals.

Officers are coming either from Turkey’s national military academy or are reserve officers. The latter are usually chosen from among college educated who after basic training are sent to the 4 month long officer candidate school. Reserve officers serve a reduced 30 month service but afterwards are subject to yearly monthly recalls. The system has its advantages and disadvantages as there are often inconsistencies in the quality of reserve officers in comparison to military academy graduates and professional officers often enough look down at the reservists or use them for the least wanted jobs. By the same token though reserve officers tend to be better educated than the majority of the rank and file of the army which proves quite useful especially with the technical arms.

INDEX

NOTES

Generally below the company size I have the Turkish army and CPDF showing close similarities in organization given the close ties between the two countries alongside some similarities in general practices and equipment used as well. The Mk6 and Mk5 tanks and Bekaa rifle come from the CPDF article. C-60 combat walker comes from the Iranian army article.

INDEX

EQUIPMENT

Tanks

The Turkish army keeps a large and generally diverse tank fleet. The Corps level heavy tank battalions are armed with 42 Type-27 heavy tanks each. Armoured and infantry formations are using either the Mk-6 Pars (Leopard) tank or the older Mk-5 Aslan (Lion) tank with Mk-6 gradually replacing the Mk-5 in service.

The bulk of the Turkish army hovermobile forces are using either the LkPz VIII tank or the American M-9. Plans call for the replacement of both with the Mk-7 Firtina (Storm) a licence produced version of the German LkPz 9. But given the size of Turkish tank holdings that are well in excess of 4,500 vehicles and the simultaneous production of Mk-6 it will take several years for Mk-7 to completely replace the older hovertanks in service and currently the 52nd Armoured Cavalry Division is the sole formation completely outfitted with Firtinas. In the meantime as an intermediate step LkPz VIII are being refurbished most notably with Type-93 ATGM missile packs although there is also some thought over a more extensive modernization programm including replacement of the 60 mm mass driver with the 70 mm weapon found in LkPz 9.

Type: Mk-6 Pars Main Battle Tank
Crew:
3
Combat Weight:
46.2 tons
Armor:
Front: 100, Top 100, Sides 60, Bottom and track skirts 20, Rear 60
Armament:
Turret with 1x 70mm Mass Driver Cannon (100 rounds, +3 fire control)
2 Type 93 Missile Launchers with 10 missiles carried internally
1 30 mm AGL with 1000 rounds
1 7.5 mm MG with 10000 rounds
Max Speed, Road:
129 kph
Max Speed, Off Road:
89 kph
Sensor Range:
12 km (+1)
Power Plant:
2 MW MHD Turbine, 2000 kWh rechargeable power cell
Fuel Capacity:
540 kg of hydrogen
Fuel Consumption:
45 kg per hour
Endurance:
12 hours
Cargo:
250 kg

Infantry fighting vehicles

Hovermobile forces are armed with the American M-24 which Turkey has licence produced or bought in prodigious quantities. In non hover units the IFV version of Mk-6 or the Manchurian Type 119 Targan are in use.

Reconnaissance vehicles

A special reconnaissance version of the Mk-6 vehicle is in use with the units using tracked and wheeled vehicles. Hovermobile units are using modified LkPz VIII hovertanks is the same role.

Small Arms

The bulk of the army are armed either with the M-2 assault rifle or the Bekaa assault rifle a Confederate designed derivative of M-2. The exception are the commandos and marines with are using the American M-5 rifle. Special operations forces are known to use primarily the SK-19 rifle alongside a variety of other weapons.

Snipers are primarily armed with the Argentine F-19 laser rifle supplemented by the heavier German made PSG-98 rifle. Reserve units are still issued the Brazilian made FC-5 although it is gradually replaced by the F-19 in service.

Support Weapons

Turkey is using the American M-99 light machine gun alongside the Manchurian T-1 plasma gun. Other weapons include Manchurian Type-81 storm guns, 80mm and 105mm mortars and Confederate made Hadera automatic grenade launchers.

The US Javelin 2 ATGM alongside its Turkish Engerek (viper) derivative is being used as a light antitank weapon supplemented by M844. Akrep (scorpion) is a light man portable AA missile domestically designed and produced.

Artillery

Brigade artillery battalions are for the most part using the Zipkin A and B (harpoon) variants a Turkish derivative of the Manchurian Type 210 130mm EM gun either on Mk5 chassis or Luki 8 chassis. A number of brigades particularly in the eastern front are also using the lighter Type 200 110mm EM gun. Divisional artillery battalions are using either LkRw-12 120mm multiple rocket launcher or the Mk5 Kobra (cobra) variant using the same rocket system on a Mk5 chassis. Corps artillery regiments are using 175mm EM guns and heavier 230mm Ejder (Dragon) multiple rocket launchers. The latter are also able to launch the Hancer (dagger) tactical missile.

Combat Walkers

The main type of combat walker is the Manchurian Type 4 a generally capable design that saw combat during the Central Asian war. 3rd army units are instead using the Manchurian C-60 combat walker which is better suited to the mountainous terrain. The army is also looking at the possibility of a replacement and has recently tested the German Kz-VII and the Manchurian Type 6 combat walkers but no official bids have been made yet.

INDEX

Appendix A. Divisional organization

Armoured /Armoured Cavalry division

Headquarters company
Signal Company
Engineer Battalion

Artillery Battalion

3 Rocket Batteries (6 Multiple Rocket Launchers each)

ADA Battalion

3 ADA Batteries (6 Ohu launchers each)

Reconnaissance battalion

2 tank companies (10 tank each)
1 long range UAV company
1 medium range UAV company

2 Armoured/Armoured Cavalry brigades, each

2 tank battalions, each:

HQ company (2 tank)
4 tank companies (10 tank)

2 infantry battalions, each:

HQ company (3 IFV)
4 infantry companies (15 IFV)
Heavy weapons company (12 Combat Walkers, 6 105mm mortars)

1 artillery battalion

3 artillery batteries (6 Zipkin 130mm guns, each)

&#Reconnaissance company (10 tank)
Signal company
HQ company
Support Battalion

1 Infantry/Mechanized Infantry brigade

1 tank battalion

HQ company (2 tank)
4 tank companies (10 tank)

3 infantry battalions, each:

HQ company (3 IFV)
4 infantry companies (15 IFV)
Heavy weapons company (12 Combat Walkers, 6 105mm mortars)

1 artillery battalion

3 artillery batteries (6 Zipkin 130mm guns, each)

&#Reconnaissance company (10 tank)
Signal company
HQ company
Support Battalion

INDEX


Copyright 2007, Demetrios Rammos