The Turkish Third Army is the country's largest army. In the days of the Soviet Union and the Third Army was stationed on the Caucasus border to counter any Warsaw Pact or Soviet attack. When the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union broke up the General Staff decided to send 120,000 men of the Third Army to the border with Iraq. This was done in order to increase readiness against any possible crisis in the area (such as during Persian Gulf War and Iraqi War), most of the armored, mechanized, and commando brigades are located in the central region in order to act rapidly into any scenario around Turkey's borders. [1]
In 1973 the Army, with headquarters at Erzincan, had the VIII Corps at Elazig (including the 12th Infantry Division, today 12th Mechanised Infantry Brigade at Agri1), the IX Corps at Erzurum (including 9th Infantry Division at Sarikamis (which was active to at least 1996), and the XI Corps at Trabzon. XI Corps has now been moved to North Cyprus.
Today the Army patrols the borders with Armenia and Georgia. Some 300 men from the Third Army were sent alongside the United Nations troops in Somalia.
External links
- ^ HQ ARRC - Journal - December 2002
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