Turkish Armed Forces The Turkish Armed Forces ( TAF ) ( TSK ) are the military forces of the Republic of Turkey . They consist of the Army , the Navy and the Air Force . The Gendarmerie and the Coast Guard , both of which have law enforcement and military functions , operate as components of the internal security forces in peacetime , and are subordinate to the Ministry of Interior . In wartime , they are subordinate to the Army and Navy . The President of Turkey is the military ' s overall head . The current Chief of the General staff is General Hulusi Akar . The Chief of the General Staff is the Commander of the Armed Forces . In wartime , he acts as the Commander in Chief on behalf of the President of Turkey , who represents the Supreme Military Command of the TAF on behalf of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey . Commanding the Armed Forces and establishing the policies and programs related with the preparation for combat of personnel , intelligence , operations , organization , training and logistic services are the responsibilities of the General Staff . Furthermore , the General Staff coordinates the military relations of the TAF with NATO member states and other friendly nations . After becoming a member of NATO on 18 February 1952 , Turkey initiated a comprehensive modernization program for its Armed Forces . The Turkish Army sent troops to fight in Korea , where they played pivotal roles at some points . Towards the end of the 1980s , a second restructuring process was initiated . The Turkish Armed Forces participate in European Union battlegroups under the control of the European Council , namely 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 collectively rank as the second largest standing military force in NATO , after the U . S . Armed Forces , with an estimated strength in 2015 of 639 , 551 military , civilian and paramilitary personnel . 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 90 B61 nuclear bomb s are hosted at the Incirlik Air Base , 40 of which are allocated for use by the Turkish Air Force in case of a nuclear conflict , but their use requires the approval of NATO . History . War of Independence . After the end of World War I , many Ottoman military personnel escaped from Rumelia to Anatolia in order to take part in the national movement . During the War of Independence , on 3 May 1920 , Birinci Ferik Mustafa Fevzi Pasha ( Çakmak ) was appointed the Minister of National Defence , Mirliva İsmet Pasha ( İnönü ) was appointed the Minister of the Chief of General Staff of the government of the Grand National Assembly ( GNA ) . But on 3 August 1921 , the GNA resigned İsmet Pasha from the Minister of National Defence because of his failure at Eskişehir - Kütahya and on 5 August , just before the Battle of Sakarya , appointed the chairman of GNA Mustafa Kemal Pasha ( Atatürk ) to the commander - in - chief of the Army of the GNA . Turkey won the War of Independence in 1922 . World War II . Turkey remained neutral until the final stages of World War II . In the initial stage of World War II , Turkey signed a treaty of mutual assistance with Great Britain and France . But after the fall of France , the Turkish government tried to maintain an equal distance with both the Allies and the Axis . Following Germany ' s occupation of the Balkan states , upon which the Axis became neighbours with Turkey in Thrace and the eastern islands of the Aegean Sea , Turkey signed a Treaty of Friendship and Non - Aggression with Germany on 18 June 1941 . After the German - Soviet War broke out , the Turkish government sent a military delegation of observers under Lieutenant General Ali Fuat Erden to the German Eastern Front and Germany . After the German retreat from the Caucasus , the Turkish government got closer with the Allies and Winston Churchill secretly met with İsmet İnönü at the Yenice Train Station near Adana on 30 January 1943 , with the intent of persuading Turkey to join the war on the side of the Allies . A few days before the start of Operation Zitadelle in July 1943 , the Turkish government sent a military delegation under General Cemil Cahit Toydemir to Belgorod and observed the exercises of the 503rd Heavy Panzer Battalion and its equipment . But after the failure of Operation Zitadelle , the Turkish government participated in the Second Cairo Conference in December 1943 , where Franklin D . Roosevelt , Winston Churchill and İsmet İnönü reached an agreement on issues regarding Turkey ' s possible contribution to the Allies . On 23 February 1945 , Turkey joined the Allies by declaring war against Germany and Japan , after it was announced at the Yalta Conference that only the states which were formally at war with Germany and Japan by 1 March 1945 would be admitted to the United Nations . Korean War . Turkey participated in the Korean War as a member state of the United Nations and sent the Turkish Brigade to South Korea , which suffered 731 losses in combat . On 18 February 1952 , Turkey became a member of NATO . The Korean government donated a war memorial for the Turkish soldiers who fought and died in Korea . The Korean pagoda is in Ankara and it was donated in 1973 for the 50th anniversary of the Turkish Republic . Cyprus . On 20 July 1974 , the TAF launched an amphibious and airborne assault operation on Cyprus , in response to the 1974 Cypriot coup d ' état which had been staged by EOKA - B and the Cypriot National Guard against president Makarios III with the intention of annexing the island to Greece ; but the military intervention ended up with Turkey occupying a considerable area on the northern part of Cyprus and helping to establish a local government of Turkish Cypriots there , which has thus far been recognized only by Turkey . The intervention came after more than a decade of intercommunal violence ( 1963 – 1974 ) between the island ' s Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots , resulting from the constitutional breakdown of 1963 . Turkey invoked its role as a guarantor under the Treaty of Guarantee in justification for the military intervention . Turkish forces landed on the island in two waves , securing 37 % of the island ' s territory in the northeast for the Turkish Cypriots , who had been isolated in small enclaves across the island prior to the military intervention . In the aftermath , the Turkish Cypriots declared a separate political entity in the form of the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus in 1975 ; and in 1983 made a unilateral declaration of independence as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus , which was recognized only by Turkey . The United Nations continues to recognize the sovereignty of the Republic of Cyprus according to the terms of its independence in 1960 . The conflict continues to overshadow Turkish relations with Greece and with the European Union . In 2004 , during the referendum for the Annan Plan for Cyprus ( a United Nations proposal to resolve the Cyprus dispute ) 76 % of the Greek Cypriots rejected the proposal , while 65 % of the Turkish Cypriots accepted it . PKK Campaign . The TAF are in a protracted campaign against the PKK ( recognized as a terrorist organization by the United States , the European Union and NATO ) which has involved frequent forays into neighbouring Iraq . During the 1980s and 1990s many Kurdish rural communities were uprooted in an effort to limit the PKK ' s base of logistical support . These actions by the TAF had resulted by the mid - 1990s in more than 3 , 000 Kurdish villages being deserted while according to official figures 378 , 335 Kurdish people had been displaced and rendered homeless . War in Bosnia and Kosovo . Turkey contributed troops in several NATO - led peace forces in Bosnia and Kosovo . Currently there are 402 Turkish troops in Kosovo Force . War in Afghanistan . After the 2003 Istanbul Bombings were linked to Al - Qaeda , Turkey deployed troops to Afghanistan to fight Taliban forces and Al - Qaeda operatives , with the hopes of dismantling both groups . Turkey ' s responsibilities include providing security in Kabul ( it currently leads Regional Command Capital ) , as well as in Wardak Province , where it leads PRT Maidan Shahr . Turkey was once the third largest contingent within the International Security Assistance Force . Turkey ' s troops are not engaged in combat operations and Ankara has long resisted pressure from Washington to offer more combat troops . According to the Washington Post , in December 2009 , after US President Barack Obama announced he would deploy 30 , 000 more U . S . soldiers , and that Washington wants others to follow suit , Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reacted with the message that Turkey would not contribute additional troops to Afghanistan . " Turkey has already done what it can do by boosting its contingent of soldiers there to 1 , 750 from around 700 without being asked " , said Erdoğan , who stressed that Turkey would continue its training of Afghan security forces . Humanitarian relief . The TAF have performed " Disaster Relief Operations , " as in the 1999 İzmit earthquake in the Marmara Region of Turkey . Apart from contributing to NATO , the Turkish Navy also contributes to the Black Sea Naval Co - operation Task Group , which was created in early 2001 by Turkey , Bulgaria , Georgia , Romania , Russia and Ukraine for search and rescue and other humanitarian operations in the Black Sea . Today . According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies ( IISS ) , in 2010 the Turkish Armed Forces had an active strength of around 510 , 000 personnel . In addition , it was estimated that there were 378 , 700 reserve personnel and 152 , 200 paramilitary personnel ( Turkish Gendarmerie and Turkish Coast Guard ) , giving a combined active and reserve strength of around 1 , 041 , 900 personnel . In 2010 , the defence budget amounted to 26 billion liras . The Law on the Court of Accounts was supposed to initiate external ex - post audits of armed forces ' expenditure and pave the way for audits of extra budgetary resources earmarked for the defence sector , including the Defence Industry Support Fund . However , the Ministry of Defense has not provided the necessary information , so the armed forces expenditure is not being properly checked . In 1998 , Turkey announced a programme of modernisation worth US $ 160 billion over a twenty - year period in various projects including tank s , fighter jet s , helicopter s , submarine s , warship s and assault rifle s . Turkey is a Level 3 contributor to the Joint Strike Fighter ( JSF ) programme . The final goal of Turkey is to produce new - generation indigenous military equipment and to become increasingly self - sufficient in terms of military technologies . Havelsan of Turkey and Boeing of the United States are in the process of developing a next - generation , high - altitude ballistic missile defence shield . Turkey has chosen the Chinese defense firm CPMIEC to co - produce a $ 4 billion long - range air and missile system . General Staff . The General Staff of the Republic of Turkey presides over the Armed Forces of the Republic of Turkey , comprising the Army , Navy and Air Force . The General Command of the Gendarmerie and the Coast Guard , which operate as parts of the internal security forces in peacetime , are subordinate to the Army and Navy Commands , respectively , in wartime , and both have law enforcement and military functions . Also , the General Staff is in command of the Special Forces Command , which is not aligned to any force command within the TAF . The Maroon Berets get their orders directly from the General Staff of the Republic of Turkey . Land Forces . The Turkish Land Forces , or Turkish Army , can trace its origins in the remnants of Ottoman forces during the fall of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I . When Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his colleagues formed the Grand National Assembly ( GNA ) in Ankara on 23 April 1921 , the XV Corps under the command of Kâzım Karabekir was the only corps which had any combat value . On 8 November 1920 , the GNA decided to establish a standing army ( " Düzenli ordu " ) instead of irregular troops ( the " Kuva - yi Milliye " , " Kuva - yi Seyyare " , etc . ) The army of the government of the GNA won the Turkish War of Independence in 1922 . As of 2006 , the Turkish Army had 1 , 300 troops deployed in northern Iraq , according to documents released as part of the United States diplomatic cables leak . The Turkish Army also maintains around 17 , 500 troops in Northern Cyprus , as part of the Cyprus Turkish Peace Force ( " Kıbrıs Türk Barış Kuvvetleri " , or KTBK . ) Naval Forces . The Turkish Naval Forces , or Turkish Navy , constitutes the naval warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces . The Turkish Navy maintains several Marines and Special Operations units . The " Amphibious Marines Brigade " ( Amfibi Deniz Piyade Tugayı ) based in Foça near İzmir consists of 4 , 500 men , three amphibious battalions , an MBT battalion , an artillery battalion , a support battalion and other company - sized units . The " Su Altı Taarruz " ( S . A . T . – Underwater Attack ) is dedicated to missions including the acquisition of military intelligence , amphibious assault , counter - terrorism and VIP protection ; while the " Su Altı Savunma " ( S . A . S . – Underwater Defense ) is dedicated to coastal defense operations ( such as clearing mines or unexploded torpedoes ) and disabling enemy vessels or weapons with underwater operations ; as well as counter - terrorism and VIP protection missions . Air Force . The Turkish Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces . It is primarily responsible for the protection and sovereignty of Turkish airspace but also provides air - power to the other service branches . 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 90 B61 nuclear bomb s are hosted at the Incirlik Air Base , 40 of which are allocated for use by the Turkish Air Force in case of a nuclear conflict , but their use requires the approval of NATO . The Air Force took part in the Operation Deliberate Force of 1995 and Operation Allied Force of 1999 , and later participated in the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Bosnia - Herzegovina , employing two squadrons ( one in the Ghedi fighter wing , and after 2000 one in the Aviano fighter wing . ) They returned to Turkey in 2001 . In 2006 , 4 Turkish F - 16 fighter jets were deployed for NATO ' s Baltic Air Policing operation . Gendarmerie . The Gendarmerie General Command , or Turkish Gendarmerie , is responsible for maintaining law and order in rural areas which do not fall under the jurisdiction of regular police forces . The Gendarmerie has around 200 , 000 active personnel . The " Jandarma Özel Harekat " ( Gendarmerie Special Operations Command ) units of the Turkish Gendarmerie are trained for riot control , urban warfare and counter - terrorism warfare . The Turkish Coast Guard is responsible for maintaining law and order in the Turkish territorial waters . It has around 2 , 200 active personnel . It is responsible to the Interior Ministry during peace time . In peacetime , the Grendarmerie and the Coast Guard fall under the control of the Ministry of the Interior , not the Turkish Armed Forces . Coast Guard . The Turkish Coast Guard is a branch of the Turkish Armed Forces and was established in 1859 . Affiliated with the Guarding Administration ( Ottoman Turkish : " Muhafaza Memurluğu " ) , the Coast Guard is responsible for controlling the maritime jurisdiction areas and coasts of Turkey and fighting all kinds of illegal actions within its area of responsibility . The Turkish Coast Guard is also the main Search and Rescue Coordination Authority in the Turkish SAR Zone . During peacetime , it is under the command of the Turkish Interior Ministry . However , during emergency and war time it falls under the command of the Turkish Navy . Turkish War Academies . Turkish War Academies constitute the educational branch of the Turkish Armed Forces . The Ottoman Military College , which later evolved into the Turkish Army War College , was established in 1848 . The Naval War College was established in 1864 , and the Air War College was established in 1937 ( the Aircraft School ( " Tayyare Mektebi " ) of the Ottoman Aviation Squadrons was established in 1912 , and the Naval Aircraft School ( " Bahriye Tayyare Mektebi " ) was established in 1914 . ) In order to train Staff Officers in the same system as European armies , the 3rd and 4th years were created in the Army War Academy under the name of " Imperial War School of Military Sciences , General Staff Courses " in 1848 . As part of the reorganization efforts of the Ottoman Army , new arrangements were implemented in 1866 for the Staff College and other Military Schools . Through these arrangements , the General Staff training was extended to three years , and with additional military courses a special emphasis was placed on exercises and hands - on training . Although being a staff officer was initially considered a different military branch in itself , effective from 1867 new programs were implemented to train staff officers for branches such as the infantry , cavalry and artillery . In 1899 , a new system was developed on the basis of the view that the General Staff Courses should train more officers with higher military education in addition to Staff Officers ’ training . Following this principle , a greater number of officers from the Army War Academy began to be admitted to the Staff College . This process continued until 1908 . Following the declaration of the Second Constitutional Era in 1908 , the structure of the Staff College was rearranged with a new Staff College Regulation on 4 August 1909 . A couple of months later , in October , the College was moved from Harbiye to the Yıldız Palace , Crown Prices ’ Quarter with the new designation " General Staff School " . With this fundamental change , the practice of direct transition from Army War Academy to Staff College was abolished , and admission into Staff College now required two years of field service following the Army War Academy . Afterwards , the officers were subjected to examinations , and those who passed the exam were admitted into the College as Staff Officer candidates . Following the occupation of Istanbul by the Allies of World War I on 16 March 1920 , Ottoman military schools were dissolved by the victors of the First World War ; nevertheless , the Staff College managed to continue its activities until April 1921 at the Şerif Pasha Mansion in Teşvikiye , Istanbul , where it was relocated on 28 January 1919 . In early 1921 , it was decided that the Staff College should be moved to Beylerbeyi , Istanbul . However , since all instructors and students had gone to Anatolia to join the Turkish War of Independence , the Staff College was closed down temporarily . On 13 October 1923 , shortly before the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey on October 29 , the Staff College restarted its education and training activities under the name of " Higher Military College " in Beyazıt , Istanbul , in the building of the Ministry of War , today used as the rectorate building of Istanbul University . About six months later , on 24 March 1924 , the College was renamed the " Directorate of the General Staff College " and moved to the Yıldız Palace . In 1927 , it was once more renamed as the " Staff College Directorate " . The College continued its education and training activities in this location until 1975 . The War Colleges Command was formed in March 1949 . The National Security College was founded in 1952 and the Armed Forces College was established in 1954 . The National Security College moved to Ankara in 1995 , and by moving back to Istanbul in 2012 , it was merged with the Armed Forces College , and since then has been continuing its education and training activities as the Armed Forces Higher Command and Control College . Role of the military in Turkish politics . After the Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923 , Mustafa Kemal Atatürk prohibited the political activities of officers in active service with the Military Penal Code numbered 1632 and dated 22 May 1930 ( " " ) . However , after the coups d ' état in 1960 , the " " ( National Unity Committee ) established the Inner Service Act of the Turkish Armed Forces ( " " ) on 4 January 1961 to legitimize their military interventions in politics . In subsequent coup d ' états and coup d ' état attempts , they showed reasons to justify their political activities especially with the article 35 and 85 of this act . The Turkish military perceived itself as the guardian of Kemalist ideology , the official state ideology , especially of the secular aspects of Kemalism . The TAF still maintains an important degree of influence over the decision making process regarding issues related to Turkish national security , albeit decreased in the past decades , via the National Security Council . The military had a record of intervening in politics , removing elected governments four times in the past . Indeed , it assumed power for several periods in the latter half of the 20th century . It executed three coups d ' état : in 1960 ( May 27 coup ) , in 1971 ( March 12 coup ) , and in 1980 ( September 12 coup ) . Following the 1960 coup d ' état , the military executed the first democratically elected prime minister in Turkey , Adnan Menderes , in 1961 . Most recently , it maneuvered the removal of an Islamist prime minister , Necmettin Erbakan , in 1997 ( known as the February 28 memorandum ) . Contrary to outsider expectations , the Turkish populace was not uniformly averse to coups ; many welcomed the ejection of governments they perceived as unconstitutional . On 27 April 2007 , in advance of the 4 November 2007 presidential election , and in reaction to the politics of Abdullah Gül , who has a past record of involvement in Islamist political movements and banned Islamist parties such as the Welfare Party , the army issued a statement of its interests . It said that the army is a party to " arguments " regarding secularism ; that Islamism ran counter to the secular nature of Turkey , and to the legacy of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk . The Army ' s statement ended with a clear warning that the TAF stood ready to intervene if the secular nature of the Turkish Constitution is compromised , stating that " the Turkish Armed Forces maintain their sound determination to carry out their duties stemming from laws to protect the unchangeable characteristics of the Republic of Turkey . Their loyalty to this determination is absolute . " Over a hundred people , including several generals , have been detained or questioned since July 2008 with respect to so - called organisation Ergenekon , an alleged clandestine , ultra - nationalist organization with ties to members of the country ' s military and security forces . The group is accused of terrorism in Turkey . These accusing claims are reported , even while the trials are going on , mostly in the counter - secular and Islamist media organs . On 22 February 2010 more than 40 officers were arrested and then formally charged with attempting to overthrow the government with respect to so - called " Sledgehammer " plot . They include four admirals , a general and two colonels , some of them retired , including former commanders of the Turkish navy and air force ( three days later , the former commanders of the navy and air force were released ) . Partially as a result , the Washington Post reported in April 2010 that the military ' s power had decreased . On the eve of the Supreme Military Council of August 2011 , the Chief of the General Staff , along with the Army , Navy , and Air Force commanders , requested their retirement , in protest of the mass arrests which they perceived as a deliberate and planned attack against the Kemalist and secular - minded officers of the Turkish Armed Forces by the Islamists in Turkey , who began to control key positions in the Turkish government , judiciary and police . The swift replacement of the force commanders in the Supreme Military Council meeting affirmed the government ' s control over the appointment of top - level commanders . However , promotions continue to be determined by the General Staff with limited civilian control . The European Commission , in its 2011 regular yearly report on Turkey ' s progress towards EU accession , stated that " further reforms on the composition and powers of the Supreme Military Council , particularly on the legal basis of promotions , still need to materialise . " The service branch commanders continue to report to the Prime Minister instead of the Defence Minister .