Turkish Armed Forces Continue to Professionalize
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MIDDLE EAST, NORTH AFRICA Turkish Armed Forces Continue to Professionalize OE Watch Commentary: Turkey continues to increase the number of its professional military personnel as it adapts to emerging technologies and new threats. As of now, about 50 percent of the Turkish Armed Forces are professional soldiers and the rest consist of conscripts, as mandatory military service remains in place for men over the age of 18. The accompanying excerpted article from Turkish State-run Anadolu Agency sheds light on how the transition to a professional army affects who the state uses to fight against terrorism. According to the article, the units that directly participate in the active fight against terrorism are all comprised of professional personnel. Additional professional units and commands were created in the regions where there was a need. As a result of this, the conscripts have been placed in non-combatant services. Turkey has also shortened the duration of compulsory military service from 18 months to 12 months for males without a college degree, from 15 months to 12 months for college educated men who wish to serve as an officer, and from eight months to Two Turkish soldiers salute. Source: By NATO Training Mission-AfghanistanMC2 (SW) Christopher Hall/NPASE East/NTM-A https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ six months for those who serve as a sergeant or private. File:Two_Turkish_soldiers_salute_(4699895014).jpg, Public domain. The article states that the Turkish Ministry of Defense “hired 45,273 enlisted sergeants and contracted privates” in the last two years. It is also worth noting that 7,567 of the enlisted sergeants have completed their training and were deployed to their duty locations and the training of 8,382 of enlisted sergeants still continues. Interviews, health screenings, and background investigations of 16,690 enlisted sergeants are pending. While 9,116 contracted privates have finished their training and have been deployed to their posts, the training of 964 of them is ongoing. The hiring process for 2,554 of the contracted privates continues. Turkish Land Forces hired the largest number while the Special Forces Command hired the least number of soldiers. The air force was the second largest, while the navy was third largest employer. There are several reasons for the recent hires. The first reason is to continue professionalizing the military. Second, it is being carried out to replace staff who were dismissed or arrested in purges following failed attempted coup d’état of July 2016. Third, the belief of professional soldiers will receive more adequate training to effectively fight terrorism. Fourth, technologically advanced military hardware reduces the need for more personnel, and it requires specialized personnel to operate the equipment. The former head of Turkish National Defense Commission, Faruk Özlü, stated the nature of warfare has changed, because a tank now has advanced communication systems and technologically advanced warfare equipment, so it needs to be operated by the trained professional soldiers. As of 2016, Turkey is projected to complete its transition to the professional military by 2023. Whether Turkey will be able to complete this transition remains to be seen. End OE Watch Commentary (Gunduz) “In the last two years 45,273 enlisted sergeants and contracted private personnel were hired as professional units have been employed in the active fight against terrorism.” Source: Sarp Özer and Sinan Uslu, “TSK’da profesyonel orduya geçişte köklü dönüşüm (In TAF radical transformation in the transition to professional army),” Anadolu Agency, 20 June 2018. https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/turkiye/tskda-profesyonel-orduya-geciste-koklu- donusum/1179627# In Turkish Armed Forces the efforts to transition to a professional army have begun to yield results. In the last two years 45,273 enlisted sergeants and contracted private personnel were hired as professional units and have been employed in the active fight against terrorism. …restructuring in the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) towards transitioning to a professional army have been ongoing for a while in accordance with the emerging technologies and threats. In this context, TAF also modernized not only its conventional defense and war techniques it also transitioned to a defense concept based on technology, information and deterrence. …after efforts aiming to professionalize combat units, primarily Commando units, there are no conscripts in the operational regions or…that have direct participation in the conflicts…In the regions where there was a need additional professional units and commands were created. …those who were doing their duties as conscripted soldiers were utilized in the non-combatant services… Accordingly, the Ministry of Defense hired 45,273 enlisted sergeants and contracted privates... 7,567 enlisted sergeants finished their training and were deployed... 8,382 continue their training…16,690 personnel…pending interviews, health screenings and background investigations. In hiring contracted privates… 9,116 individuals finished the training…training of 964 continues…hiring process for 2,554 candidates continues. Special Forces Command hired 243 enlisted sergeants… Land Forces Command hired 30,161 enlisted sergeants [and] 9,585 contracted privates…Navy hired 741 enlisted sergeants [and] 1,896 contracted privates…Airforce hired 1,494 enlisted sergeants [and] 1,153 contracted privates… OE Watch | August 2018 57.