When was the Turkish Gendarmerie founded?
Gendarmerie General Command
After the abolition of the Janissary corps of the Ottoman Empire in 1826, military organizations called "Asâkir-i Muntazâma-i Mansûre", "Asâkir-i Muntazâma-i Hâssa", and, in 1834, "Asâkir-i Redîfe" were established to deliver security and public order services in Anatolia and in some provinces of Rumelia.
Since the term Gendarmerie was noticed only in the Assignment Decrees published in the years following the declaration of Tanzimat in 1839, it is assumed that the Gendarmerie organization was founded after that year, but the exact date of foundation has not yet been determined. Therefore, taking the June 14 of "June 14, 1869", on which "Asâkir-i Zaptiye Nizâmnâmesi" was adopted, June 14, 1839 was accepted as the foundation date of the Turkish Gendarmerie.
Presidential Guard Regiment (Turkey)
The Turkish Presidential Guard Regiment was established in July 1920 under President Atatürk. Its original role was to provide security in Ankara, in what was then a small and isolated city. As a battalion sized unit it saw active service during the war with Greece.
Gendarmerie Special Operations
The Gendarmerie Special Operations () or JÖH, is the special operations unit of the Turkish Jandarma (Gendarmerie). It has several missions which includes search and destroy, infiltration and reconnaissance actions. Members of the unit receive extensive training at the Jandarma School at Foça and also from selected Army instructors. All three companies work under the direction of the army regions to which they are assigned, but can also receive tasking from their headquarters in Ankara.
Corps of Gendarmerie of Vatican City
In 1816, after the dissolution of the Napoleonic empire, Pope Pius VII founded the Papal Carabinieri Corps for the service of the Papal States. In 1849, under Pope Pius IX, it was renamed, first as the Papal Velites Regiment, and then as the Papal Gendarmerie Corps. It was charged with ensuring public security, and passed from dependence on the Ministry of the Army to dependence on the Cardinal Secretary of State. It took an active part in the battles that finally led to the complete conquest of the Papal States by the victorious Kingdom of Italy. After the capture of Rome in 1870, a small group of members of the Corps continued to serve in the papal residence and the gardens. In 1929, the force was expanded to deal with its duties in the newly founded Vatican City State and in the buildings and other areas over which the Holy See had extraterritorial rights. When in 1970 Pope Paul VI abolished all the military bodies at his service except the Swiss Guards, the Gendarmerie was transformed into a Central Security Office, with the duties of protecting the Pope, defending Vatican City, and providing police and security services within its territory. Its name was changed in 1991 to Security Corps of Vatican City State and in 2002 to Gendarmerie Corps of Vatican City State.
Gendarmerie (Austria)
Johann Franz Kempen, Baron of Fichtenstamm, was appointed first "General-Gendarmerie-Inspector". While it was originally a military corps responsible for the whole Austrian Empire, gradually over the second half of the nineteenth century it became responsible for public order. Initially composed of eighteen regiments and part of the army, its operational command was transferred to the Austrian Ministry for the Interior in 1860 and wholly severed from the armed forces in 1867. Nevertheless, training, uniforms, ranks, and even pay remained patterned after the army. The military origins were still represented in the retention of the old insignia, a flaming grenade, after the Gendamerie became a component of the civil administration in 1918. The predominantly grey uniform also owed its inspiration to the Austro-Hungarian Army.
Gendarmerie General Command
The Turkish Gendarmerie comprises the following commands:The General Command is composed of:
Directorate General for Police
The roots of DGP goes back to Ottoman Police (1571). After two months of the transfer of administration of the Cyprus island to United Kingdom in 1878, "Cyprus Military Police" was founded by Britisher. In 1936, the word "Military" was removed from the name and it became "Cyprus Police", and it lasted with this name till 1960. By the establishment of Republic of Cyprus in 1960, police organization was separated to Police and Gendarme. In 16.08.1960, Cyprus Police Force has 415 Turkish Cypriot police and 604 Greek Cypriot police (total:1019). Police Firing Unit has 56 Turkish Cypriots and 125 Greek Cypriots (total: 181).
Gendarmerie (Austria)
After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, the Cisleithanian k.k. Gendarmerie was no longer responsible for the Transleithanian lands controlled by the Hungarian Armed Forces (). The control over the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia and the Principality of Transylavania did not pass to the Hungarian forces until 1876. In 1881 the Royal Hungarian (k.u.) Gendarmerie ("Csendőrség") was established.
With the implementation of the Austrian Gendarmerie Law on 2 February 1876, it was finally separated from the Austro-Hungarian Army, though the newly established agency was still answerable to the Austrian Minister of Defence and its service members were officially part of the Cisleithanian "Landwehr" armed forces.
Turkish Air Force
The Turkish Air Force () is the aerial warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. The Turkish Air Force can trace its origins back to June 1911 when it was founded by the Ottoman Empire, however, the air force as it is known today did not come into existence until 1923 with the creation of the Republic of Turkey.
Sedat Celasun
Sedat Celasun (1915, Istanbul – 17 July 1998) was a Turkish general. He was General Commander of the Gendarmerie of Turkey from 1978 to 1983. He was one of the five leaders of the 1980 military coup, and after the coup he was a member of the Presidential Council.
General Staff of the Republic of Turkey
The General Staff of the Republic of Turkey (Turkish: "Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Genelkurmay Başkanlığı", abbreviation: T.C. Gnkur. Bşk.lığı) presides over the Armed Forces of the Republic of Turkey, comprising the Land Forces, Naval Forces, Air Force and Special Forces. 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.
Law enforcement in Turkey
Firstly, the Police and the Gendarmarie each have a department that perform duties relevant to the collection and analysis of intelligence and countering criminal acts. Police Intelligence Department is the Police force's intelligence wing, second one is Intelligence Department of Gendarmerie General Command.
Batı Çalışma Grubu
General Çevik Bir (then deputy-chief of the General Staff) has said he set up the group on the orders of then Chief of the General Staff İsmail Hakkı Karadayı, and that it was a legal group defending Turkey, acting on the instructions of the National Security Council in its 28 February meeting and a cabinet meeting in March 1997. According to General Çetin Saner, the head of the Turkish Gendarmerie's Intelligence Department at the time, the BÇG tried to create its own intelligence network, and had asked the Gendarmerie, police and National Intelligence Organization to forward information to it.
Law Enforcement Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran
The Persian Gendarmerie, also called the Government Gendarmerie (), was the first modern highway patrol and rural police force in Persia. A paramilitary force, it also played a significant part in politics from its establishment in 1910 during the Qajar dynasty until the advent of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1921. It was active for some time in Pahlavi era. Nazmiyeh () was also a Law Enforcement force in Persia, with police duties inside cities.
Intensely concerned with matters of internal security in the post-1953 environment, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi authorized the development of one of the most extensive systems of law enforcement agencies in the developing world. The Imperial Iranian Gendarmerie () and the National Police (Shahrbani or Nazmiyeh ) gained in numbers and responsibilities. The secret police organization, SAVAK, gained special notoriety for its excessive zeal in "maintaining" internal security. But as in the regular armed forces, the shah's management style virtually eliminated all coordination among these agencies. He tended to shuffle army personnel back and forth between their ordinary duties and temporary positions in internal security agencies, in order to minimize the possibility of any organized coups against the throne. Added to this list of institutional shortcomings was agencies' all- important public image, cloaked in mystery and fear.
Counter-Guerrilla
It was only when Yamak asked prime minister Bülent Ecevit for an alternative means of funding did Ecevit became aware of the operation's existence; the other members of the cabinet remained in the dark. Ecevit suggested that the organization seek support from Europe. Yamak contacted generals from the United Kingdom, followed by France. The commander of the Turkish army at the time, General Semih Sancar, informed him the U.S. had financed the unit as well as the National Intelligence Organization since the immediate post-war years.
Coast Guard Command (Turkey)
Coast Guard Command is a security service, established on 9 July 1982 by Act.2692, with the purpose of performing missions such as; providing the security of Turkish coasts, territorial waters and inland waters such as the Marmara Sea, Istanbul and Çanakkale Straits, ports and harbors and exercising such rights and powers where Turkey exercises sovereign rights under the rules of both national and international laws at sea areas which fall outside the scope of the general responsibility of the Turkish Naval Forces and to prevent and pursue all kinds of smuggling activities carried out by way of sea.
The missions, Coast Guard Command was charged with by Act. 2692 are:Surface patrols are carried out by 52 patrol vessels and smaller craft. The most effective of these are 14 search-and-rescue vessels (220 tons) of Turkish design. Smaller 150 ton and 70 ton patrol boats of German design were nearing obsolescence in the mid 1990s. An ambitious construction plan foresaw a major strengthening of the service with eight new vessels of 350 - 400 tons and 48 ships of 180 - 300 tons.
People's Liberation Army of Turkey
People's Liberation Army of Turkey (, abbreviated THKO) was an armed underground far-left movement in Turkey. It was founded at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey in 1970 by Hüseyin İnan, Yusuf Aslan, Sinan Cemgil, Deniz Gezmiş, Taylan Özgur and Cihan Alptekin.
Grand Ducal Gendarmerie (Luxembourg)
In 1940, under the German occupation, the Gendarmerie was dissolved and its members were integrated in the services of the polizei deployed into the occupied countries on Eastern Europe. During the Battle of the Bulge, 15 gendarmes assisted American troops with defending the town of Diekirch. The law of 23 July 1952 constituted the legal bases of the modern gendarmerie. It formed a part of the army as well as of the police force.
Gendarmerie Intelligence Organization
After being taken into custody, Arif Doğan admitted to being a founder of the organization, originally known as the Intelligence Group Command (), and that in 1990 he handed the reins to Veli Küçük. In 2005 he had denied the very existence of such an organization. After his release from prison Arif Doğan spoke to journalists of the news channel Habertürk TV in September 2010 and said that he alone had founded JİTEM and had "frozen" it in 1990. Concerning the structure of JİTEM Colonel Arif Doğan said: ""My staff was 10,000, including 620 women. They participated in operations and got 3,000 Lira for each head"."
Turkish Hearths
Following a meeting of the Young Turks, the Turkish nationalists, on 3 July 1911, the NGO was officially founded in İstanbul on 25 March 1912. According to the statute of Turkish Hearths, it was a non-political organization, and the activities were mostly concentrated on culture and education. During the Turkish War of Independence (1919–1923), Turkish Hearths supported the meetings held in İstanbul against the occupation of İstanbul. Some members of the organization were arrested by the Allies of World War I, and the activities of the Turkish Hearths were suspended up to 1922.
History of the Republic of Turkey
A military coup d'état, headed by General Kenan Evren, took place in 1980. Martial law was extended from 20 to all then existing 67 provinces of Turkey. Within two years, the military returned the government to civilian hands, although retaining close control of the political scene. The political system came under one-party governance under the Motherland Party (ANAP) of Turgut Özal (Prime Minister from 1983 to 1989). The ANAP combined a globally oriented economic program with the promotion of conservative social values. Under Özal, the economy boomed, converting towns like Gaziantep from small provincial capitals into mid-sized economic boomtowns. Military rule began to be phased out at the end of 1983. In particular in provinces in the south-east of Turkey it was replaced by a state of emergency. In 1985 the government established village guards (local paramilitary militias) to oppose separatist Kurdish groups.
Turkish Naval Forces
The Turkish Naval Forces were represented under the title of the "Naval Undersecreteriat" at the Turkish General Staff Headquarters in Ankara from 1928 to 1949. The historic decree of the Higher Military Council on 15 August 1949 led to the foundation of the Turkish Naval Forces Command ("Deniz Kuvvetleri Komutanlığı".) After Turkey joined NATO on 18 February 1952, the Turkish Naval Forces were integrated into the organizational branches of the alliance.
Amphibious Marine Brigade (Turkish Armed Forces)
The modern history of Turkish Marine Brigade, under the command of the Turkish Amphibious Group, began in 1966 with the formation of Amphibious Marine Infantry Brigade Command's first Amphibious Landing Forces, constituting the 1st Marine Infantry Battalion, was formed with Vice Admiral Kemal KAYACAN's encouragement on 15 September 1966 at the Garrison of Golcuk. The Forces Headquarters was established in Mersin in April 1971. The 2nd Amphibious Marine Infantry Battalion was founded in 1973, and the headquarters of the Amphibious Marine Infantry Regiment was constituted on 18 April 1974, completed prior to the Invasion of Cyprus.
International Gendarmerie
De Veer and Thomson prepared a classified 150-page report on the setting up of the gendarmerie. There were discussions of 5,000 gendarmes led by Dutch officers provided by the government of the Netherlands. On February 24, 1914, 13 Dutch officers arrived at Vlorë: Captain Fabius, Major Kroon, Major De Waal, Major Sluys, Captain Doorman, Major Roelfsema, Dr. De Groot, Captain Sar, Major Verhulst, Major Snellen van Vollenhoven, First Lieutenant Mallinckrodt, Captains Reimers and Sonne.
Turkish Resistance Organisation
The TMT was initially formed with a local initiative, with the aims of raising awareness in Turkey about the Cypriot issue and military training and supply for Turkish Cypriot fighters. However, its leaders were aware that such an organization would not be popular without Turkish support, and thus, no organization or efforts to establish a leadership took place at this time. On 2 January 1958, Denktaş and Küçük flew to Ankara to meet with Fatin Rüştü Zorlu. In the meeting, Zorlu asked them if they would be able to receive the weapons sent by Turkey, and Denktaş replied positively, after which Zorlu brought the issue to the attention of the Chief of Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces. After several months of consideration, Turkey decided to support the organization on the condition that Turkish support would be kept secret. Daniş Karabelen was assigned to organize the TMT's foundation.
Veli Küçük
Veli Küçük (born 9 May 1944, Türkmen, Gölpazarı, Bilecik, Turkey) is a retired Turkish brigadier-general. He is thought to be the founder of the JİTEM intelligence arm of the Turkish Gendarmerie, and is accused by the Turkish government of being the head of the Ergenekon organization, based on testimony by Tuncay Güney. He was arrested in January 2008, and on 5 August 2013, sentenced to two consecutive life sentences.
Village guard system
Village guards (), officially known as "Geçici ve Gönüllü Köy Korucuları" ("Temporary and Voluntary Village Guards") are paramilitaries recruited mostly from ethnic Kurds but also from ethnic Circassians, Turks, Uzbeks and Kyrgyz as well. Originally they were set up and funded by the Turkish state in the mid-1980s under the direction of Turgut Özal. Their stated purpose was to act as a local militia in towns and villages, protecting against attacks and reprisals from the insurgents of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The rationale behind set up of the system was that it would be helpful to the Turkish Army to have an additional force of people who knew the region and the language in order to assist in military operations against the PKK. At the height they constituted a force of 90`000 village guards, 2009 they numbered still 50`000.
Gendarmerie and Coast Guard Academy
The Gendarmerie and Coast Guard Academy () is an academy for the training of personnel of the Turkish Gendarmerie and the Turkish Coast Guard located in Ankara, Turkey.
Gendarmerie General Command
After 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War, Ottoman prime minister Mehmed Said Pasha decided to bring some officers from Britain and France to establish a modern law enforcement organization. After the Young Turk Revolution in 1908, the Gendarmerie achieved great successes, particularly in Rumelia. In 1909, the Gendarmerie was affiliated with the Ministry of War, and its name was changed to the Gendarmerie General Command ().
Gendarmerie General Command
The Gendarmerie has its roots in the Ottoman Empire military law enforcement organization "Subaşı" (later known as the "Zaptiye"), which carried out security and safety services. A similar, earlier force was called "Şurta" during the medieval Seljuq Empire.
Turkish Armed Forces
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.
Law Enforcement Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran
After the 1979 Revolution, the gendarmerie, which was renamed to the Islamic Republic of Iran Gendarmerie (), was numbering nearly 74,000 in 1979, was subordinate to the Ministry of Interior. Its law enforcement responsibilities extended to all rural areas and to small towns and villages of fewer than 5,000 inhabitants. The International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated its manpower at 70,000 in 1986. The Gendarmerie was dissolved in 1990 and its personnel were assigned to the INP.
National Gendarmerie
The Gendarmerie is heir to the (Marshalcy—see below), the oldest police force in France, dating back to the Middle Ages. It has influenced the culture and traditions of gendarmerie forces all around the world—and especially in the former French colonial empire.
Turkish National Police Academy
The Police academy was founded on 6 November 1937 in accordance with Article 18 of the Act 3201 as a one-year-in service-training institute of higher education to educate and train junior and senior executive constables
International Gendarmerie
The International Gendarmerie was the first law enforcement agency of the Principality of Albania. It was established by the decision of the ambassadors of the six Great Powers that participated in the London Peace Conference. This decision was made on the basis of the London Treaty signed on May 30, 1913. Since most of the members were from the Netherlands, this force was also known as the Dutch Military Mission.
Gendarmerie Intelligence Organization
The gendarmerie intelligence, previously known as JİTEM or JİT, finally gained legal status with the Law Concerning Amendments to Some Laws No. 5397, accepted on 3 July 2005, effective since 23 July 2005 thus becoming the Gendarmerie Intelligence Department within the General Command of Gendarmerie. This law authorised the gendarmerie to carry out technical stakeouts.
Aydın Güven Gürkan
All Turkish parties were closed in 1981 by the military rule so called by the National Security Council (MGK). In 1983, the MGK decided to allow the formation of new parties with severe restrictions. Aydın Güven Gürkan joined People's Party (, HP) a new party on the track of Republican People’s Party (, which is usually credited as the founder of Turkish Republic in 1923. In the first elections following the military rule, Aydın Güven Gürkan was elected as the deputy from Antalya Province.
Romanian Military Police
It should also be noticed that at first the Gendarmerie was placed under the command of the Ministry of War. The archaic term of "troops' police" could be found starting with 1850 in the structure of the armed forces, but the day when the military police was established in its modern form was 5 November 1893. On that day King Carol I promulgated the Law of Rural Gendarmerie. As a part of this corps, the Military Police branch was tasked with the following duties:
Funkabwehr
A Funkabwehr organisation existed in Turkey on similar lines to that in Spain though it was in every respect on a less impressive scale. It appears to have been established on July 1943, and its purpose was to the interception of traffic in southern eastern Europe and particularly links going into Turkey itself. There was an establishment of four banks in Ankara under the direct control of Berlin and operated under diplomatic cover, but did not have the status of an Aussenstelle.
Counter-Guerrilla
After the British government declared on 21 February 1947 its inability to provide financial aid (though she would establish the Central Treaty Organization a decade later), Turkey turned towards the United States, who drew up the Truman Doctrine, pledging to "support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures". $100 million was appropriated two months after the US Congress ratified the Truman Doctrine on 12 March 1947. This figure was raised to $233 million by 1950, after Turkey contributed a brigade of about 5000 men to the United Nations forces in the Korean War. In August 1947, the Joint American Military Mission for Aid to Turkey (JAMMAT) was established in Ankara under the authority of the US ambassador.
Turkish Military Academy
In recognition of intense demands of science and technology on modern warfare, the Ottoman State abolished the Janissaries and founded the Military Academy in Constantinople (today-Istanbul) in 1834 as an institution devoted to the arts and science of warfare by the order of Sultan Mahmud II. The Academy produced its first graduates in 1841. After the foundation of military high schools in 1845, the Academy continued to give education with a four-year curriculum. The Academy had primarily trained artillery and cavalry officers until 1908.
Hellenic Police
Though there was what constituted a police force under the provisional Government of Greece during the Greek War of Independence, the first organized police force in Greece was the Greek Gendarmerie which was established in 1833 after the enthronement of King Otho. It was at that time formally part of the army and under the authority of the Defence Ministry (later the entirety of the organization including the Police Academy was brought under its authority). A city police force was also established but its role remained a secondary one in comparison to the Army's role (mainly dealing with illegal gambling, a severe problem at the time), several foreign advisers (particularly from Bavaria, which emphasized elements of centralization and authoritarianism), were also brought in to provide training and tactical advice to the newly formed Police force. The main task of the police force under the army as a whole during this period was firstly to combat theft but also to contribute to the establishment of a strong executive government.
Teoman Koman
Teoman Koman ( – 14 December 2013) was a Turkish general who retired in 1997. He was General Commander of the Gendarmerie of Turkey (1995 - 1997) and previously head of the National Intelligence Organization (1988 - 1992) and Deputy Secretary-General of the National Security Council (1986 - 1988).
2014 National Intelligence Organisation scandal in Turkey
The scandal broke out on 1 January 2014, when an anonymous call was made to the Adana Attorney General, claiming that a number of lorries were on their way to Syria carrying weapons on both days. Despite the Turkish Gendarmerie conducting a search on 19 January, their search was cut short by the Governor of Adana Hüseyin Avni Coş, who claimed that the lorries belonged to the National Intelligence Organisation (MİT). The prosecutor who ordered the search, as well many of the Gendarmerie soldiers who conducted it, were all removed from their posts and some faced legal investigation. The government, then led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, first claimed that the cargo of the lorries were a 'national secret', but later claimed that the lorries were carrying food and medical supplies to the Turkmen population in Syria. Many critics of the government alleged that the lorries were in fact supplying arms to rebel groups fighting in the Syrian Civil War.
Ottoman Empire
The modernization of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century started with the military. In 1826 Sultan Mahmud II abolished the Janissary corps and established the modern Ottoman army. He named them as the Nizam-ı Cedid (New Order). The Ottoman army was also the first institution to hire foreign experts and send its officers for training in western European countries. Consequently, the Young Turks movement began when these relatively young and newly trained men returned with their education.
Directorate General for Police
From 1 April 1955 (when EOKA started its activities) till 1974, more than 40 Turkish Cypriot policemen were killed. After the collapse of the partnership government in 1963, the Turkish Cypriot police and gendarmes formed the police organization "Directorate General for Police (DGP)" which then became TRNC DGP in 1983 when Northern Cyprus was declared.
Turkish Naval Forces
Following the Armistice of Mudanya on 11 October 1922, the former Ottoman Ministry of the Navy ("Bahriye Nazırlığı") building in the Kasımpaşa quarter of Istanbul, on the Golden Horn, became the headquarters of the Istanbul Naval Command on 14 November 1922. The establishment of the Ministry of the Navy ("Bahriye Vekâleti") of the Republic of Turkey, headquartered in Ankara, was decided by the Grand National Assembly on 29 December 1924, and Topçu İhsan Bey (İhsan Eryavuz) was appointed the first (and only) Naval Minister of Turkey. When the Republic of Turkey was established on 29 October 1923, the former Ottoman vessels that remained under Turkish control were as follows:
Veli Küçük
Küçük is thought to be the founder of the JİTEM intelligence arm of the Turkish Gendarmerie.
Ottoman Gendarmerie
After 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War, Ottoman prime minister Mehmed Said Pasha decided to bring some officers from Britain and France to establish a modern law enforcement organization. After the Young Turk Revolution in 1908, the Gendarmerie achieved great successes, particularly in Rumelia. In 1909, the Gendarmerie was affiliated with the Ministry of War, and its name was changed to the Gendarmerie General Command ().
Gendarmerie of Haiti
The Gendarmerie of Haiti ( ), also known as the "Haitian Constabulary", was a collaborationist gendarmerie raised by the United States during its occupation of Haiti in the early 20th century. Established in late 1915, the gendarmerie was operational from 1916 until 1928, during which time it was Haiti's only military force, earning a reputation for active interference in civilian government that may have set the stage for the future politicization of Haiti's armed forces.
Gendarmerie
Some of the more prominent modern gendarmerie organizations include the French National Gendarmerie, Italian Carabinieri, Spanish Civil Guard, Portuguese National Republican Guard and the Turkish Gendarmerie.
Necabettin Ergenekon
Colonel Necabettin Ergenekon (born 1926, in Erzurum) is a Turkish Army officer who retired in 1982, having been commander of the Turkish Gendarmerie in Adıyaman Province after the 1980 Turkish coup d'état. Born "Necabettin Baltacı", he changed his name "some time in the '60s" to avoid confusion with another person by the same name. At one time, Ergenekon was the commanding officer of Veli Küçük. Ergenekon was suspected by later-assassinated state prosecutor Cevat Yurdakul as being behind a string of mysterious deaths in the 70s, but no legal action was ever taken.
Turkish Resistance Organisation
The Turkish Resistance Organisation (, TMT) was a Turkish Cypriot pro-taksim paramilitary organisation formed by Rauf Denktaş and Turkish military officer Rıza Vuruşkan in 1958 as an organisation to counter the Greek Cypriot Fighter's Organization "EOKA"(later "EOKA-B"). The name of the organization was changed twice. In 1967 to "Mücahit", and in 1976 to "Güvenlik Kuvvetleri Komutanlığı"(Security Forces Command Center).
Hungarian Royal Gendarme Veterans' Association
After a year-and-a-half of hard work, all the laws and regulations from 1881 through 1945, which directed the work of the gendarmerie to the smallest detail, are now also available on the website. The gendarmerie is the first Hungarian law-enforcement agency, past or present, which has all its legal material posted on the internet.
Turkish Armed Forces
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.
Gendarmerie Intelligence Organization
According to Murat Belge of Istanbul Bilgi University, who has reported that he was tortured in 1971 by its founder, Veli Küçük, JİTEM is an embodiment of the deep state. In other words, it is used by "the Establishment" to enforce alleged national interests. It is also said to be the military wing of Ergenekon, an underground Turkish nationalist organization. In 2008, long-maintained official denials of JİTEM's existence started collapsing in the courts, as ex-members of Turkey's "deep state" security apparatus testify to their participation in covert and illegal activities over the last few decades as part of the ongoing Ergenekon investigation.
Turkish Resistance Organisation
The exact date of establishment of the TMT varies across several sources, the given dates are 15 or 23 November 1957. Rauf Denktaş, however, claimed that the organization was established on 27 November. The establishment took place in the house of Kemal Tanrıverdi in Nicosia, the Turkish Cypriot attaché at the Turkish embassy, with the participation of Denktaş and Burhan Nalbantoğlu. Its declaration of establishment, which called all Turkish Cypriot members of resistance organizations to unite under the TMT, was printed on 26 November 1957 by the Lefkoşa Türk Lisesi (Nicosia Turkish High School). Initially, it only had about 100 members.
Cretan Gendarmerie
During the second half of the 19th century the Christian Cretans revolted almost every decade against Ottoman rule. In 1878, in an agreement known as the Pact of Halepa, the Sultan Abdul Hamid II, agreed that in future Crete would be policed by native-born Cretans, Christian and Muslim. It was agreed that a new body of Gendarmerie would be formed and recruited only from Cretans.
Iranian Gendarmerie
During the First World War the officers of the Swedish Gendarmerie, who like most of the Iranian intelligentsia and constitutionalists were sympathetic towards Germany, helped the Central Powers and at one point in autumn 1915 seized control of Shiraz with the connivance of the German-trained provincial governor Mehdi-Qoli Mokhber'ol Saltaneh Hedayat. After the 1921 coup d'état the War Minister Reza Khan, merged the two viable military forces which existed in Iran at that point i.e. the Cossack division and the Gendarmerie, to create the modern Iranian national army. A rural police, "amnieh", was created and the "nazmieh" or the police force was also revamped and placed under the Iranian officers.
Askeri İnzibat
The Askeri İnzibat is part of the Turkish Gendarmerie ("Jandarma Genel Komutanlığı"), which is responsible for maintaining law and order in rural areas which do not fall under the jurisdiction of regular police forces.
Gendarmerie (Belgium)
The Gendarmerie (French) or Rijkswacht (Dutch) was the former paramilitary police force of Belgium. It became a civilian police organisation in 1992, a status retained until January 1, 2001, when it was, together with the other existing police forces in Belgium, abolished and replaced by the Federal Police and the Local Police.
Village guard system
The Turkish Interior Ministry estimated that 296 murders were committed by village guards between 1985 and 1996. In a subsequent report in 2006, the Ministry indicated that some 5,000 village guards were involved in criminal activities.
The journalist Gottfried Stein relates former lieutenant in the Turkish Army Yener Soylu as describing the process of persuading some villagers to join the village guards:
"We posed the people with a choice, either they acted as village guards, or they would be resettled in other provinces. In the evening, we staged what appeared to be a skirmish with the guerrillas, we shot at windows and also directed heavy weapons against the village. As the people depended on their harvest and animals, we destroyed their fields and slaughtered the animals. If this did not help, we surrounded the village and sent in the counter-guerrillas."
Terrorism in Turkey
Left-wing terrorism began in 1969 when the Proletarian Revolutionaries and Proletarian Socialists formed the Federation of Revolutionary Youth of Turkey (Dev-Genç). Terror activities included bank robberies, bombings and kidnappings (for ransom). In 1971, the military declared martial law to arrest revolutionaries. By 1973, these incidents had stopped.
CIA activities in Turkey
During the Cold War, the CIA set up a clandestine "stay behind" army network in Turkey. They were intended to conduct sabotage and espionage operations if required. Such networks were set up in many NATO European countries (the best known being Gladio), as well as in officially neutral countries in Europe; the network in Turkey was codenamed "Counter-Guerilla", elements of it were later accused of committing torture.. The Counter-Guerrillas' existence in Turkey was revealed in 1973 by then-prime minister Bülent Ecevit.
Presidential Guard Regiment (Turkey)
Following the abortive coup attempt of 2016, almost 300 members of this unit were arrested. Shortly thereafter, the Turkish government announced that the entire Presidential Guard Regiment was to be disbanded. The former ceremonial functions of the Presidential Guard Regiment are now performed by units of the Turkish Gendarmerie.
Defense of Van (1915)
After the disastrous depletion of the 3rd Army in the Battle of Sarikamish, the gendarmerie, originally charged with police duties among civilian populations, was transferred to the 3rd Army in an attempt to restore combat effectiveness of the Ottoman Army's operational military forces. On 24 February 1915, the Ottomans were forced to send the Harput, Diyarbakir, and Bitlis gendarmerie units to the city of Van. There were 52,000 Ottoman troops in the Caucuses war zone during this period, with 75% located at the northern war zone, beyond the province of Van. The Ottoman units in the Van province consisted of Van Gendarmerie subdivisions that remained under the control of the Governor. The Van Gendarmerie Division also contained the artillery unit under Rafael de Nogale. The 36th Infantry Division was assembled from Mesopotamia under orders to control the southern part, near Lake Van. The 1st Expeditory Force held the front to the south of Lake Van.
One battalion, dubbed "the butcher battalion ()" numbered some 5,000 men.
The Armenian population in the city had taken measures as well. The city management had established a unified authority ("The Military Defense Authority") consisting of Armenak Ekarian, Aram Manukian, Kaytsak Arakel, Bulgaratsi Gregory, Gabriel Semerjian, Hrant Galikian and Panos Terlemezian. Support services were set up and distribution of food, medical aid, and arms shop (an established manufacture of gunpowder and arms that was capable of casting two guns), were organized. The Women's Union was founded at this time, mainly engaged in manufacturing clothing for combatants. In the face of imminent danger, representatives of various Armenian political parties (Ramkavar, Dashnaks) rallied together. The Van defenders numbered no more than 1500 combatants, who had only 505 rifles and 750 Mauser pistols and a small supply of ammunition. The Military Defense Authority issued orders to use ammunition with extra caution. The Aygestan neighborhood was divided into 5 areas of defense, with 73 distinct positions. Researcher Thomas De Waal states that "it has been called both a rebellion and a heroic act of resistance by Armenians against a government that intended to kill them" and "it had elements of both".
The most important change during the Defense of Van was the transfer of Governor Hasan Tahsin Pasha to Erzurum and his replacement with Djevdet Bey. Djevdet Bey was the brother-in-law of Enver Pasha, and was accompanied by Rafael de Nogales Méndez. De Nogales was assigned with the permission of the 3rd Army's commanding German officer to oversee the Ottoman Gendarmerie units under the new governor. The Armenian leaders were Aram Manukian, the regional party leader of Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), Armenak Yekarian from the ranks of Armenakans, Nikoghayos Poghos Mikaelian (Ishkhan), a member of the ARF, and Arshak Vramian, he deputy of the Ottoman Parliament from Van. Vramian was also an old classmate of Djevdet's.
Gendarmerie Intelligence Organization
The unit was officially founded in 2005, but its unofficial history goes back to the 1980s. Its roots lie further back with the Counter-Guerrilla: JİTEM used Counter-Guerrilla methods and possibly equipment, and key figures had been involved with the Counter-Guerrilla. For example, Murat Belge of Istanbul Bilgi University says he was tortured in 1971 by a key JİTEM figure, Veli Küçük.
Hellenic Gendarmerie
In 1906 the Gendarmerie underwent its first major restructuring at an administrative level. It acquired its own educational and training facilities independent of those of the army (though still remaining a nominal part of the armed forces). Despite this the Gendarmerie still maintained a largely military based structure, based on its involvement in the Macedonian Struggle, and the Balkan and First World Wars. As a result, it tended to neglect civilian matters, something addressed with the establishment of a civilian city police force for Attica in 1920, which would eventually be expanded to urban centers in the entire country.
Royal Albanian Gendarmerie
By the end of World War I, the formation of the new government on 25 December 1918, gathered many other officers and cadets with the intention to ending the anarchy that ruled across the country after the war. Under the command of Haki Ismail Tatzatit, the Italian organizer Ridolfo and Banush Hamdiu, the Arm of Gendarmerie was reestablished.
Later, Ismail Haki Tatzati was appointed battalion commander in Berat, while in Durrës and Elbasan, respectively Major Kasem Qafëzezi and Major Mustafa Aranitasi.
Azerbaijan–Turkey relations
In January 29, 2013, TAKM (Organization of the Eurasian Law Enforcement Agencies with Military Status) was formed as an intergovernmental military law enforcement (gendarmerie) organization of three Turkic countries (Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey) and Mongolia.
Gendarmerie General Command
The Gendarmerie General Command () is a service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces responsible for the maintenance of the public order in areas that fall outside the jurisdiction of police forces (generally in rural areas), as well as assuring internal security and general border control along with carrying out other specific duties assigned to it by certain laws and regulations. The Gendarmerie is essentially a governmental armed security and law enforcement force of military nature.
Ottoman Army (1861–1922)
The Special Organization was a special forces unit established in 1913. It was an organization designed to establish insurgency and, second, function as an intelligence service. Instigating insurgency, conducting espionage in foreign countries, and counterespionage inside the Ottoman Empire was the function between 1913-1918. The institutional origin, the reason given at the strategic document, was related to the unsatisfactory result of the First Balkan War and the goal was the recovery of Edirne. This military organization had no precedent in Ottoman history, and it was developed direct interaction out of the counterinsurgency experiences from Macedonia and the guerrilla experiences from Libya with a handful of Ottoman officers. Difference between the secret service of Abdulmamit II was directly linked to him and did not have operational function. There is a controversy of burned intelligence documents of special forces, which Shaw puts the event in 1914 not later. That was the day Enver became war minister and destroyed Abdul Hamid's records, probably Abdul Hamid's intelligence on him. The first field operator was Süleyman Askeri, who undertook the first mission and established the field structure. No actual evidence to support any claims of a dual-track structure, which means operated with both political and military goals. Managed singlehandedly by Süleyman Askeri Bey from foundation to November 1914. The organization sub-management consisted of Atif Bey (Kamçil), Aziz Bey, Dr. Bahattin Sahakir, and Dr. Nazim Bey . Staff was organized four departments: the European Section headed by Arif Bey, the Caucasian Section headed by Captain Reza Bey, the Africa and Libya Section headed by Hüseyin Tosun Bey, and the Eastern Provinces Section headed by Dr. Sakir and Rueni Bey. The headquarter was on Nur-i Osmariiye Street in Constantinople.
Gendarmerie Intelligence Organization
JİTEM's chief, Arif Doğan, was tried in the frame of the Yüksekova Gang (aka "the gang with uniforms"). According to "Today's Zaman", the "Yüksekova Gang was an illegal organization formed in the Yüksekova district of Hakkari, headed by three high-ranking military personnel and various politicians that smuggled drugs and weapons." Its activities were first revealed in 1996, in the aftermath of the Susurluk scandal. Its activities "are only one part of the JİTEM activities" that have been sent to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). All of the local court prison sentences concerning the Yüksekova Gang were cancelled by the High Court of Appeals of Turkey, leading the ECHR to fine Turkey 103,000 Euro for its decisions about the Yüksekova Gang.
Gendarmery (Serbia)
The word "žandarmerija" is a French loanword ("gendarmerie"), and is pronounced "zhandarmeriya". The Žandarmerija corps date back to the Principality of Serbia, established on June 28, 1860, and originally consisted of 120 officers. It was disbanded after World War II and was restored in 2001 by the reorganization of the irregular "Special Police Unit" (, PJP). This was accomplished by an act issued by the Minister of Interior Dušan Mihajlović. One of its first major assignments was capturing the suspects in the assassination of prime minister Zoran Đinđić.
Turkish Resistance Organisation
The first underground organization formed by Turkish Cypriots to oppose enosis was Volkan. This organization was founded in 1956 or September 1955 according to different sources, and purportedly with the support of the British administration. Roni Alasor, however, claims that TMT's organisation structure and base had been formed as early as 1950 with its centre in Yenişehir, Ankara. During this period, other resistance organizations were founded, such as the Turkish Resistance Legion for the Movement Legion (KİTEM), 9 September Front or Kara Çete ("Black Gang"), which reportedly had the support of Fazıl Küçük, but these turned out to be unsuccessful attempts and joined Volkan.
International Gendarmerie
The first gendarmerie members arrived in Albania on November 10, 1913. They were soon faced with a peasant revolt. One International Gendarmerie officer was killed and many were imprisoned after the revolt erupted in June 1914. Dutch officers were gradually replaced by officers from Austria-Hungary and Germany, who arrived in Durrës on July 4. Soon, World War I broke out and by August 4, most of the Dutch officers had returned to the Netherlands. By September 19, 1914, the last two imprisoned officers were released.
Gendarmerie General Command
Law No. 6815, which entered into force in 1956, assigned the Gendarmerie General Command duties such as protecting borders, coasts and territorial waters, and fighting smuggling, which had been previously carried out by the "Gümrük Umum Kumandanlığı" that was a military organization at the level of division in affiliation to the Ministry of Customs and Monopoly.
Military Gendarmerie (Poland)
The Military Gendarmerie (, abbreviated "ŻW") is a military provost and law enforcement agency created in 1990 in Poland as an independent part of the Polish Armed Forces.
1st Commando Brigade (Turkey)
The 1st Commando Brigade () is a brigade of the Turkish Army, located in Kayseri. Founded as a paratrooper brigade, later it was restructured as a ground force. The 1st Commando Brigade contains special forces teams from other commando brigades like Hakkari Mountain and Commando Brigade. Although formally being a paratrooper brigade Parachuting and para-warfare training is still given in this brigade to every one of its troops, including the special forces Gendarmerie Special Operations Command team within its brigade.
Turkish Armed Forces
The modern history of the army began with its formation after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The Turkish military perceived itself as the guardian of Kemalist ideology, the official state ideology, especially of the secular aspects of Kemalism. 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.
Law enforcement in Turkey
The Gendarmerie also have an independent organization for Traffic Control () similar to that of the police, but they take shifts outside the cities; similar to the American highway police.
Gendarme (historical)
Under Napoleon I, The Gendarmes d'élite de la Garde impériale (English: "élite gendarmes of the Imperial Guard") was a gendarmerie unit formed in 1801 by Napoleon as part of the Consular Guard which became the Imperial Guard in 1804. In time of peace, their role was to protect official residences and palaces and to provide security to important political figures. In time of war, their role was to protect the Imperial headquarters, to escort prisoners and occasionally to enforce the law and limit civil disorder in conquered cities. The unit was renamed Gendarmes des chasses du roi during the First Bourbon Restoration but was disbanded in 1815 during the Second Restoration.
Askeri İnzibat
The Askeri İnzibat or "AS.İZ", is the Military Police of the Turkish Armed Forces and constitute a very small dedicated force which handles military security and military crimes. Their area of jurisdiction is generally limited to military bases. Their competence to identify and arrest military criminals in civilian areas (draft dodgers and deserters) has been transferred to Gendarmerie and police units. Some of the other duties they perform are, protection and VIP detail provided to important bases or commanders, control of traffic inside the bases and providing security in military courts. They can be identified using the very obvious “AS. İZ.”, printed in large letters across the front of their helmets.
Gendarmerie General Command
As a part of the Turkish Armed Forces, the General Command of the Gendarmerie is subordinate to the Turkish General Staff in matters relating to training and education in connection with the Armed Forces, and to the Ministry of the Interior in matters relating to the performance of the safety and public order duties. The Commander of the Gendarmerie reports to the Minister of the Interior.
Law enforcement in Turkey
In Turkey, Gendarmes can generally be spotted wearing dark green trousers and light green shirts, with special red-and-blue markings on their collars. But any army officer with the same markings no matter which uniform they are in is a Gendarme.
Turkish Land Forces
On August 26, 1922, the Army of the Grand National Assembly ("Büyük Millet Meclisi Ordusu") launched the general offensive known as the Great Offensive ("Büyük Taarruz") against the Greek forces around Kara Hisâr-ı Sâhip. Nurettin Pasha's 1st Army and Yakup Şevki Pasha's 2nd Army encircled the main body of Major General Nikolaos Trikoupis's group and defeated it near Dumlupınar. Fahrettin Pasha's V Cavalry Corps entered Smyrna (Izmir) on September 9, 1922. Şükrü Naili Pasha's III Corps entered Constantinople (Istanbul) peacefully on October 6, 1923. Subsequently to the founding of the Republic of Turkey, the Army of the GNA was reorganized into three army inspectorates ("ordu müfettişliği", 1st, 2nd and 3rd army inspectorate).
Işık Koşaner
On 4 August 2006, General Koşaner was appointed as the Commander of the Turkish Gendarmerie. He was followed by General Avni Atila Işık as the Gendarmerie commander, when he took over the command of Turkish Army on 30 August 2008. On 8 August 2010, General Koşaner was appointed as the Chief of the General Staff and took up the position on 30 August 2010.
Vatan ve Hürriyet
Vatan ve Hürriyet ("Motherland and Liberty" in Turkish) was a small, secret revolutionary society of reformist officers opposed to the autocratic regime of Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II in the early 20th century. It was started by Mustafa Cantekin while in exile in Syria. The future founder of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, joined the group in 1905 as a young lieutenant in the Ottoman army in Damascus.
Turkish Land Forces
On 28 June 1963, the Turkish Army celebrated the 600th anniversary of its foundation. Back then, the accepted theory was that the Turkish Armed Forces had been founded in 1363, when the Pençik corps (the predecessor of the Janissary corps) had been formed. In the same year, one of the prominent Pan-Turanists, Nihal Atsız, asserted that the Turkish Army had been founded in 209 BC, when Mete Khan of the Xiongnu is thought to have formed an army based on the decimal system. In 1968, Yılmaz Öztuna proposed this theory to Cemal Tural, who was the Chief of the General Staff of the Republic of Turkey at the time. In 1973, when the Turkish Army celebrated the 610th anniversary of its foundation, Nihal Atsız published his claim again. After the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, the Turkish Army formally adopted the date 209 BC as its year of foundation.
Grand Ducal Gendarmerie (Luxembourg)
The law of 16 February 1881 created a "Force Armée", consisting of a company of gendarmes and a company of volunteers, under the command of a major. In 1902, a criminal brigade was created in the Gendarmerie, in order to help the judicial authorities in dealing with crimes and misdemeanours. This brigade was reorganised and reinforced in 1911. By grand-ducal decree of 30 November 1929, it received the name of "Service de la Sûreté Publique".
Turkish War Academies
The Turkish War College, which is the highest center for the Turkish art of war and military sciences, was founded in 1848. In line with the global developments in the first half of the 18th century, the Ottoman State had carried out a wide range of reforms including the Army as well. In 1845, upon a decree, an administrative order of Sultan Abdülmecid, the Military Board of Education, composed of the Army War Academy Commander Emin Pasha, Fuat Pasha and Sheik ul Islam Arif Hikmet, decided that “The Military High Schools shall be established; the Army War Academy shall consist of four years, and like the European Armies, new courses shall be created to produce general staff officers.” Acquiring an institutional identity after this process, the War College went through two significant phases before evolving into its present state.
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. Abdülkerim Pasha was appointed as the first director of these courses for the junior officers of the Imperial Ottoman Army. When the building in Harbiye was allocated as the guesthouse and hospital for French Troops, the Ottomans’ ally in the Crimean War, in the beginning of 1854, the College moved to the"Istanbul Technical University" building, today known as “Taşkışla”. By the end of 1858, the Army War Academy and General Staff Courses moved to the Military Hospital in Gülhane. Four years later, in 1862, they moved back into their former location in Harbiye, which had burned down and promptly restored during the Crimean War. 2 years later, what is now today the Naval War College was established as the staff school for the Imperial Ottoman Navy. As part of the reorganization efforts of the Ottoman Army, new arrangements were implemented in 1866 for the Staff Colleges and other Military Schools.
Law enforcement in Turkey
The Gendarmerie (), are military forces of law enforcement. They are trained and supplied by the army but they assume duties under the Minister of Interior. Their organization and duties are quite similar to those of the French Gendarmerie, or Italian Carabinieri.
Gendarmerie General Command
In 2017, around 310 civilians, including 90 children and women, have been killed by the Turkish gendarmerie at the Syrian-Turkish border since the beginning of the Syrian civil war.
Cretan Gendarmerie
The Cretan Gendarmerie () was a gendarmerie force created under the Cretan State, after the island of Crete gained autonomy from Ottoman rule in the late 19th century. It later played a major role in the coup that toppled the government of King Constantine in 1916, and also in the World War II Battle of Crete and the Greek Resistance which followed.
Turkish Naval Forces
A large number of the naval officers and students of the Naval Academy went to Anatolia for participating in the Turkish War of Independence. On 10 July 1920, the "Directorate of Naval Affairs" ("Umur-u Bahriye Müdürlüğü") was founded in Ankara under the Ministry of National Defense and was given the duty of organizing and maintaining strategic logistical shipping through the Black Sea in order to provide the Turkish liberation forces in Anatolia with weapons and other supplies. All existing naval institutions in the parts of Anatolia that were administered by the Ankara government were assigned to this Directorate. The Directorate of Naval Affairs was extremely successful in organizing local surface units and volunteers and in forming an intelligence network to discover the movements of the enemy ships. As a result, logistic transportation was carried out effectively. The Turkish Grand National Assembly in Ankara made an agreement with the Soviet Union to procure supplies for the Turkish liberation forces. "Aydın Reis" left from Samsun (on 16 September 1920) and "Preveze" left from Trabzon (on 30 September 1920) for Novorossiysk in order to transport weapons, other supplies and financial aid to the Turkish liberation forces. The "Trabzon Shipping Detachment", which was founded on 21 September 1920, was renamed as the "Trabzon Naval Shipping Command" with the directive issued by the Ministry of National Defense on 26 October 1920. On January 1, 1921, the Samsun Naval Command was formed. In the subsequent stages of the Turkish War of Independence, due to the growing need for maritime shipping and the increase in the quantity and quality of the units and small ships, the organizational structure of the Directorate of Naval Affairs was gradually extended.
Grand Ducal Gendarmerie (Luxembourg)
The Grand Ducal Gendarmerie was formed on February 3, 1733, "to fight the plague of the vagrants and people without consent". Luxembourg was incorporated into France as the "Département des Forêts" from 1795 to 1813 and the "Gendarmerie Nationale" system was applied. The law of the "28 Germinal, Year VI", was to remain the basis of the Luxembourgish Gendarmerie. In 1805, the name of the "National Gendarmerie" was changed to "Imperial Gendarmerie".
Fevzi Türkeri
Fevzi Türkeri (born 1941, Elâzığ) is a former Turkish general. He graduated from the Turkish Military Academy in 1962 and the Kara Harp Akademisi in 1975. During the 1980s and 1990s he was twice Chief of the Special Forces of the Turkish Army. He was General Commander of the Gendarmerie of Turkey from 26 August 2004 to 24 August 2006.
List of General Commanders of the Turkish Gendarmerie
This list includes General Commanders of the Turkish Gendarmerie (), who were, in their time of service, nominal heads of the Turkish Gendarmerie.
First Army (Ottoman Empire)
In 1877, it was stationed in Selimiye. It was composed of:After the Young Turk Revolution and the establishment of the Second Constitutional Era on July 3, 1908, the new government initiated a major military reform. Army headquarters were modernized. Its operational area was Constantinople and the Bosporus, and it had units in Europe and Asia Minor. It commanded the following active divisions: The First Army also had inspectorate functions for four "Redif" (reserve) divisions:With further reorganizations of the Ottoman Army, to include the creation of corps level headquarters, by 1911 the Army was headquartered in Harbiye. The Army before the First Balkan War in 1911 was structured as such:
In August 1914, the army was structured as follows:In November 1914, the army was structured as follows:In Late April 1915, the army was structured as follows:In Late Summer 1915, January 1916, the army was structured as follows:In August 1916, the army was structured as follows:In December 1916, the army was structured as follows:In August 1917, the army was structured as follows:In January 1918, the army was structured as follows:In June 1918, the army was structured as follows:In September 1918, the army was structured as follows:In April 1919, Şevket Turgut Pasha, Cevat Pasha and Kavaklı Mustafa Fevzi Pasha hold a secret meeting in Constantinople. They prepared a report called "Trio Oath" ("Üçler Misâkı") and decided to establish army inspectorate for the defense of homeland. In late April, Kavaklı Mustafa Fevzi Pasha submitted this report to the Minister of War Şakir Pasha. On April 30, 1919, the War Ministry and Sultan Mehmed VI ratified the decision about the establishing of army inspectorates that had been accepted by the Chief of General Staff And then the First Army Troops Inspectorate (stationed in Constantinople, Kavaklı Mustafa Fevzi Pasha), the Yildirim Troops Inspectorate (stationed in Konya, Mersinli Cemal Pasha, later Second Army Inspectorate) Inspectorate, the Ninth Army Troops Inspectorate (stationed in Erzurum, Mustafa Kemal Pasha, later Third Army Inspectorate) was formed. Additionally, the Rumeli Military Troops Inspectorate (Nureddin Pasha) would be established and the XIII Corps would be under the direction of the Ministry of War. In May 1919, the army inspectorate was structured as follows:
Counter-Guerrilla
After joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) on February 18, 1952, Turkey signed a Military Facilities Agreement on 23 June 1954, paving the way for a large scale US military presence. With a staff of 1200 by 1959, JAMMAT was the largest of the United States European Commands (USEUCOM), and also the world's largest military assistance and advisory group by 1951. JAMMAT was renamed to Joint United States Military Mission for Aid to Turkey (JUSMMAT) in 1958, and the Office of Defense Cooperation Turkey (ODC-T) () on 1 May 1994.
Ottoman Gendarmerie
Gendarmerie units both sustained their internal security duties and took part in the national defence at various fronts as a part of the Armed Forces during the World War I and the Turkish War of Independence.