Turkish Army

The Turkish Army or Turkish Land Forces (Turkish: Türk Kara Kuvvetleri) is the main branch of the Turkish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The modern history of the army began with its formation after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Significant events since the foundation of the Army include combat in the Korean War and in the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus, and acting as a NATO bulwark along Cold War frontiers through 1992. Today, in terms of personnel, the Turkish Army is the second-largest standing army in NATO with 402,000 active troops.(325,000 conscripts and 77,000 professionals)

The army holds the preeminent place within the armed forces. It is customary for the Chief of the General Staff of the Republic of Turkey to have been the Commander of the Turkish Land Forces prior to his appointment as Turkey's senior ranking officer. Alongside the other two armed services, the Turkish Army has frequently intervened in Turkish politics, which has now been regulated to an extent with the reform of the National Security Council. The current commander of the Turkish Land Forces is General Hayri Kıvrıkoğlu.

Read more about Turkish Army:  History, Structure

Famous quotes containing the words turkish and/or army:

    A man may grow rich in Turkey even, if he will be in all respects a good subject of the Turkish government.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    I was interested to see how a pioneer lived on this side of the country. His life is in some respects more adventurous than that of his brother in the West; for he contends with winter as well as the wilderness, and there is a greater interval of time at least between him and the army which is to follow. Here immigration is a tide which may ebb when it has swept away the pines; there it is not a tide, but an inundation, and roads and other improvements come steadily rushing after.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)