Line #35 UsefulNotes/TurksWithTroops


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/maxresdefault_4135.jpg]]
2
3	->''"Osman saw himself and his host reposing near each other.''
4	->''From the bosom of Edebali rose the full moon,''
5	->''and inclining towards the bosom of Osman it sank upon it, and was lost to sight.''
6	->''After that a goodly tree sprang forth, which grew in beauty and in strength, ever greater and greater.''
7	->''still did the ambracing verdure of its boughs and branches cast an ampler and an ampler shade, ''
8	->'' until they canopied the extreme horizon of the three parts of the world. Under the tree stood''
9	->''four mountains, which he knew to be Caucasus,''
10	->''Atlas, Taurus, and Haemus."''
11	-->--''Osman's Dream'', [[TheEpic the traditional epic]] of the Ottoman Empire
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13
14	Oghuz Turks have long and not without justice been reputed to be a ProudWarriorRace. The present day nation of UsefulNotes/{{Turkey}} was descended from the Ottoman Empire which was founded by [[TheHorde border raiders]] in Asia Minor. These formed themselves into a conquering [[TheEmpire Empire]] which was able to subjugate large parts of the Balkans. At one of its key moments the Ottomans were, in 1453, able to [[UsefulNotes/TheFallOfConstantinople take Constantinople]] (nowadays' UsefulNotes/{{Istanbul}}) which was the [[VestigialEmpire last trace]] of UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire. After this they grew to become one of the greatest powers in the world.
15
16	The Ottomans were checked by the improvements in military technique and increase in economic production by European powers. They were driven back in a series of wars by Austria and Russia. Subjugated powers began [[LaResistance revolting]] in the nineteenth century, and the Ottoman Empire itself became a VestigialEmpire. So Vestigal in fact that one of the main reasons it survived was that other powers were afraid Russia would conquer it first and upset the BalanceOfPower.
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18	During UsefulNotes/WorldWarI the Ottoman Empire fought on the German side. It gave a fairly good account of itself, but in the end lost most of its empire, and upon surrendering, significant chunks of its Anatolian heartland were given--directly or indirectly--to Greece, Italy, and France. However in a curious twist of fate it managed to resurrect itself. The Turkish General Kemal Ataturk, who had distinguished himself at Gallipoli, put himself at the head of a nationalist movement which prevented the total collapse of Turkish independence (ironically, despite being a militant secularist, the mass of peasants who followed him showed up because he managed to convince an assembly of muftis to declare a ''jihad''). Turkey reformed itself from a VestigialEmpire into a nation state under Ataturk who was, for the Turks, sort of a semi-benign cross between a GloriousLeader and a {{Cincinnatus}}. During UsefulNotes/WorldWarII it stayed neutral and was able to do so both because of its formidable if old fashioned army, and because of the [[TheChessmaster geopolitical skills]] of its leaders. During The Cold War the Turks took the anti-communist side and Turkish troops fought with distinction in UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar (amusingly, the [[EnemyMine Greeks]] showed up, too; there are no reports on what they thought of one another). Turkey joined NATO in 1952 as part of the first enlargement, at the same time as Greece. Turkey now has the second-largest army in NATO after the UsefulNotes/YanksWithTanks.
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20	Turkey's military has long been noted for its size. Due to the geographic position of Turkey, the nation played a major role in the planning of World War III scenarios during the Cold War, as their control of the Bosphorous blocked the only Soviet access to the Mediterranean. This, combined with American nuclear missile deployments in the country, made it a prime target if war was to break out. However, this was not the only reason for a large Turkish military. Until recently, the Turkish military played a significant role in the politics of the country. The army is tasked with enforcing the constitutional restrictions on religious governance, which led them to launch coups in 1960 against the Democratic Party, and again in 1997 against the administration of Necmettin Erbakan. They also had two other coups in 1971 and 1980, ostensibly in response to ideological violence, and a coup attempt in 2016 that is bona fide FlameBait in Turkish communities. This heavy presence in Turkish politics is partly owed to the founders of modern Turkey, particularly Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, being generals in the Ottoman military. Having won Turkey's independence through war, there was a natural inclination to view the military as a fundamental part of the nation's politics, unlike countries like the United States where the military is firmly divided from the civilian administration. This seemingly omni-present military cabal has come to be known as the "Deep State" in Turkey.
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22	Mandatory service is still enforced in Turkey, hence why it has such a vast military. Until recently, however, the military of Turkey vastly over-emphasized quantity over quality. None of the three main branches of the Turkish military were all that powerful, and they frequently relied on their NATO allies to make up for their shortcomings, such as a lack of adequate air defense. Despite being on the frontlines of the Cold War, it seems that NATO commanders placed significantly more preference in Germany, and viewed the Turkish armed forces as little more than a stop-gap for the Soviets if hostilities broke out. Most of their closest military arrangements were made with other NATO allies, particularly West Germany, from which they licensed the G3 rifle and MG3 machine gun that are still standard issue.
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24	However, the military has undergone significant changes recently. The administration of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has effectively restructured the Turkish military in the wake of two massive events: the Ergenekon Case [[note]]sometimes referred to as ''Operation Sledgehammer''[[/note]] and the 2016 coup d'etat attempt. In the former, a massive number of military leaders were accused of belonging to an ultra-nationalist organization known as Ergenekon, that was supposedly planning on overthrowing the ruling AKP government. This resulted in hundreds of officers being arrested and losing their posts, and they were typically replaced by officers loyal to the AKP government. This did not avert another coup attempt, however, as Erdoğan had a falling out with his ally Fethullah Gülen, leader of the ''hizmet'' movement. The latter was involved in a coup attempt in 2016 that was quickly crushed, but there still exists significant controversy over the role of Gülen and other aspects of the coup that are beyond the scope of this article. Regardless, the outcome is that the Turkish military is effectively no longer a separate entity constantly watching over the civilian government as in decades past, but is now an arm of the government.
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26	Outside of the structural changes, the war with the PKK in Southeastern Turkey and the increasingly involvement of the Turkish Armed Forces in Syria has necessitated large equipment upgrades. They controversially purchased some Russian S-400 anti-air missile systems in order to resolve the massive AA gap in their arsenal, much to the chagrin of the US, who they had long depended on for anti-air coverage. The most notable of their indigenous developments has been a joint effort with South Korea to build an indigenous version of their K2 tank, known as the Altay, to replace the aging M60 Patton tanks. Beyond that, they are also working on equipping the armed forces with a new, indigenous assault rifle known as the MPT-76. The Navy is also getting quite a bit of love, with a new Amphibious Assault Ship planning to enter service soon, and several new surface warships in the works.
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28	Perhaps more surprisingly, the Turkish military has carved itself a veritable niche as a DroneDeployer over the latter half of the 2010s, becoming one of the most prolific producers of both [[SurveillanceDrone surveillance]] and [[AttackDrone attack]] drones. Baykar TB "Bayraktar" drones have come in contact with UsefulNotes/{{Russian\|s With Rusting Rockets}} and Russian-equipped forces in Syria, Libya, Nagorno-Karabakh and UsefulNotes/{{Ukrain\|ians With Depleted Uranium}}e, often offering significant advantages to Turkish-backed forces in these theatres. As a result, some experts have been describing Turkey as a drone superpower surpassed only by the US and China.
29	----
30	!!Appearances in fiction
31
32	[[AC: ComicBooks]]
33	* The first four volumes of the Franco-Belgium comic ''ComicBook/{{Djinn}}'' take place in the twilight years of the Ottoman Empire just before World War I breaks out.
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35	[[AC:{{Film}}]]
36	* ''Film/AdieuBonaparte'' is about UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte's conquest of [[UsefulNotes/ModernEgypt Egypt]] against the Ottoman Mamluks.
37	* ''Film/AmericaAmerica'' is Creator/EliaKazan's semi-fictionalized account of his uncle's escape from oppression in latter 19th century Ottoman Empire Turkey.
38	* ''Ayla: The Daughter of War'' features the Turkish Army as part of the UN coalition forces during UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar, where some Turkish soldiers find an orphaned Korean child in the middle of a massacre and end up adopting her as the war ranges on.
39	* ''Film/{{Gallipoli}}''
40	* ''Film/TheLastQueen'' is about the conquest of UsefulNotes/{{Alg\|eria}}iers by Ottoman Corsair Aruj "Barbarossa" (Oruç Reis in Turkish) in 1516 and its aftermath.
41	* ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia.''
42	* ''Kurtlar Vadisi'' (English title ''Valley of The Wolves'' [[note]] Most Notable for the BigDamnMovie ''Valley of the Wolves: Iraq''[[/note]])
43	* ''Film/{{Ararat}}''
44	* ''Film/TheGreatWarriorSkanderbeg''
45	* ''O Şimdi Asker'' (''He is a Soldier Now''): Chronicles the experiences of a group of soldiers scheduled for short-term conscrption but ended up getting stuck in the military when a crisis with Greece breaks out. Somewhat critical of the army but ultimately focusing on the TrueCompanions that grow between the diverse range of characters.
46	* ''The Lark Farm (La Masseria Delle Allodole)'', an Italian-made film about the UsefulNotes/WorldWarI-era deportations of Armenians by the Turkish military.
47	** ''Skylark Farm'' by Antonia Arslan, the novel which the above film was based on.
48	* ''Rampage'', [[FanNickname aka.]] ''Turkish Franchise/{{Rambo}}''.
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50	[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
51	* ''Literature/TheTurkishGambit'' novel from Literature/ErastFandorin series (also [[Film/TheTurkishGambit the movie]]).
52	* Emilio Salgari (better known for his ''Literature/{{Sandokan}}'' novels wrote two novels, ''Capitan Tempesta'' e ''Il Leone di Damasco'', centered around the war between Venice and the Ottoman Empire for control of Cyprus and the Battle of Lepanto.
53	* ''Literature/TheShadowOfTheVulture'' short story by Creator/RobertEHoward takes place during the Ottoman-Hungarian/Habsburg Wars.
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55	[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
56	* ''Series/{{Mash}}'' shows the Turks as part of the UsefulNotes/KoreanWar fighting force, and as such visiting the 4077th every so often. One scene had a Turk/Greek fight broken up by a pissed-off [[spoiler:Father Mulcahy]].
57	* ''Series/ResurrectionErtugrul'', a 5-season Turkish historical television series chronicling the deeds of Ertugrul Bey, father of Osman Ghazi Haan, that could be best described as "''Vikings'' with Central Asian nomads". Not that there isn't a significant amount of overlap between those two groups.
58	* The Ottoman Army oppose the [[UsefulNotes/AussiesWithArtillery ANZAC]] protagonists in the series ''Series/Gallipoli2015''. As the war for the Gallipoli peninsula falls into a stalemate, both sides begin to mellow and find each other as [[WorthyOpponent worthy adversaries]] and have a strange bond with each other, despite being enemies.
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60	[[AC:VideoGames]]
61	* ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresIII'' featured the Ottomans as one of the first eight playable civilizations. They specialize in artillery of all kinds and have a slow-building but powerful economy.
62	* The Ottoman Empire at the height of its power plays an important role in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedRevelations''. Most of the game takes place in and around Constantinople, and various factions within the Sultan's court serve as allies or enemies to the Assassins' cause.
63	* In ''VideoGame/Battlefield1'', the Ottoman Empire and its forces face off against the British Empire in multiplayer. In singleplayer. they are the main opposing force in two of the War Stories, ''The Runner'' (based on the Battle of Gallipoli) and ''Nothing Is Written'' (based on the Arab Revolt).
64	* ''VideoGame/ConquerorsBlade'': ''Season IV: Blood of the Empire'' was themed after the Ottoman Empire during the siege of Constantinople. In addition to various Turkish-themed cosmetics, four Ottoman units (Janissaries, Azaps, Sipahis, and Silahdars) were introduced to the game.
65	* ''VideoGame/CossacksEuropeanWars'' has the 16th/17th century Ottoman Empire as playable nation.
66	* The ''VideoGame/TotalWar'' series features the Ottoman Empire as a playable faction in the original ''[[VideoGame/MedievalTotalWar Medieval]]'', ''[[VideoGame/MedievalIITotalWar Medieval II]]'', ''[[VideoGame/EmpireTotalWar Empire]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/NapoleonTotalWar Napoleon]]''.
67	* ''VideoGame/{{Squad}}'' features the modern Turkish Land Forces as one of the playable factions. They are highly mobile, having less anti-tank weapons and heavy armor, and more anti-infantry equipment, such as a grenadier kit with a MKE MGL semi-automatic grenade launcher, and the unique "Jandarma" kit (representing the Turkish Gendarmerie) with a SOR-109T SMG and lot of granades, suited for close-quarters combat.
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69	[[AC:{{Webcomic}}]]
70	* In ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'', the MoeAnthropomorphism of Turkey ''and'' the former Ottoman Empire (Sadiq Annan) appears once or twice with his troops around.
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Context UsefulNotes / TurksWithTroops