Aegean Army

The Aegean Army or Fourth Army is one of the four main formations of the Turkish Army. It covers the entire west coast of the Anatolia peninsula and has its headquarters in İzmir. It was organised in the 1970s in response to political tensions with Greece - the ongoing Aegean dispute.

Aegean Army
ActiveJuly 1975[1]–present
CountryTurkey
Size130.000 active personnel
Part ofTurkish Army
Garrison/HQİzmir
Commanders
Current
commander		Lieutenant General Kemal Yeni
Chief of StaffBrigadier General Burhan Aktaş
See also: Fourth Army (Ottoman Empire)

Its stated mission is to protect Turkey's territory on its western coast. This is directed against the perceived threat posed by Greece's armament of the Aegean Sea islands. Greece, on the other hand, perceives the presence of the Aegean Army as a threat to its islands, citing strong offensive capabilities ascribed to the Aegean Army as well as the exposed and isolated geographical position of the islands, the 5 most populous of which are several hundred kilometres distant from the Greek mainland, yet sit only 2-3km from Turkey's, as reasons of concern. Greek sources particularly point to the strong amphibian forces maintained by the Aegean Army as an indicator of its offensive nature.[2] Turkey has countered such concerns by stating that besides being of a fundamentally defensive nature it is "basically a training army".[3]

History

It was established on July 20, 1975, independently from NATO, when the situation became more tense and the possibility of war increased with the Cyprus Operation, which was made in a period when the tension increased after the coup in Greece on April 21, 1967, against the threat posed by the armament of Greece in the Aegean islands. Its headquarters is in Narlıdere.

Units

The Army has been reported to consist of the following units and organizations:

See also

References
  1. Olaylarla Türk Dış Politikası, Ankara Üniversitesi Siyasal Bilgiler Fakültesi, 1987, p. 586.
  2. Macedonian Press Agency
  3. Turkish embassy declaration Archived April 15, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  4. "19. Motorlu Piyade Tugay Komutanı Altun Tuğgeneralliğe Terfi Etti - Haber". 30 June 2020. Archived from the original on 6 July 2020.
  5. Forum discussion of current structure, drawn from S&H Magazine
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