Special Forces Command (Turkey)

It was first established on September 27, 1952 under the name of "Special and Auxiliary Combat Troops" and on November 7, 1953 it was renamed the "Mobilization Investigation Board". On December 14, 1970 it was named "Special Warfare Department".[9]Due to the emergence of external dangers after the Gulf War and threats from the northern part of Iraq, the Special Forces Command was established in 14 April 1992, by changing its campus and structure.[10]It was established at the level of Brigade in 1992, and later the division was followed by the Corps with the decision of the 2006 Supreme Military Council, again with the decision of the Supreme Military Council and the Corps again with the decision of the Supreme Military Council and 2015.[11]They ranked first among twenty-six special forces troops in the World Special Forces Championship held in Germany in 2004.[12]

In 1998, Turkey's special forces KDP Şemdin Sakık'ın Upon receiving a negative response to be delivered to the requesting team to Iraq to infiltrate the operation and were brought to the country seized.[13]Greek Embassy in Kenya in 1999, Abdullah Öcalan's plane upon receipt of the Netherlands how many aircraft will use a similar intelligence leased aircraft made the landing at the airport in Nairobi and arrested by special forces teams were brought to Turkey[14] In 2014, after 49 consular employees were taken hostage by ISIS in Mosul, they carried out joint operations with MIT and rescued the hostages.[15] With the start of the operation against Syria in 2017, they infiltrated the region and carried out exploration activities and supported by participating in the operations together with the Free Syrian Army.[16] The identities of Turkish SOF personal is classified. Unlike other special operations teams, Turkish SOF Officers are battle hardened and are constantly operating and are active in the war on the PKK in the southeastern Iraqi border region of Turkey and even cross-border action into Northern Iraq.Operate against the terrorist organizations' executive positions and critical points across the border.In the countries where the conditions of war are continuing, in order to protect the embassies and in the defense of the region in case of any attack, the foreign team who knows the language of the country and has experience in the region is assigned.They allow the friendly forces to move more comfortably by infiltrating the regions to be operated in advance, marking critical units and units and marking them ineffective, and gathering discovery and intelligence in hostile territory.[17][18]

The Special Forces are not aligned to any of the three branches of the TAF, receiving its orders directly from the General Staff of the Republic of Turkey.[21] Although considered a brigade-level formation, as of 2017, this includes non-combatant units and administrative duties personnel as well, the combatant size of the OKK is not greater than 500.[22]

Only Army officers and NCOs are eligible to join this the OKK. Linguistic skills in at least one foreign language is a plus for admission.[22]

The OKK training period which lasts around 3.5 years, Some of the skills gained are:[26][27] Unconventional warfare and Various Special Warfare Types ,special operations ,Special Reconnaissance and ınfiltration ,Covert Operations ,underwater and underwater operation ,static parachute and HALO / HAHO (Night and Day jump) ,combating terrorist in residential areas (Operation CQC /CQB) ,resisting vital maintenance and torture-ınterrogation ,ambush, raid, sabotage, escape ,survivalmelee,VIP protection and tactical shot expert marksmanship ,ıntelligence and foreign language ,operation in deep snow,severe cold and desert heat ,medic ,bomb destruction ,physical education ,psychological operations ,public aid,public relations , target description,fire arrangement, damage detection ,first and emergency aid,surgical technician ,bestruction techniques, bomb disposal.[22]

Turkish SOF are all recruited from high-rank Army officers who volunteer to join. Each recruit must have at least served 3 years as an Army soldier and must have a certain amount of time received by Army operations either from exercises or actual clashes.

They must undergo

A) Domestic training which takes 72 weeks

B) International training takes 10 to 52 weeks depending on the rank of the volunteering officer.

C) specialty. After graduating from Special Operations Training commandos are tested before officially becoming an MB officer. They are expected to survive in all environmental conditions for at least 2 weeks, so they are left as an entire team in different environments each on with no equipment or help for 2 weeks as a part of the final testing stage. If they survive they become Turkısh SOF soldier. On the last month of training, Maroon Berets receive interrogation and torture training. The last month of training is called hell month.[28]

Media related to Special forces of Turkey at Wikimedia Commons

• Lale Sariibrahimoglu, 'Live-fire exercises shine spotlight on Turkey's special forces,' Jane's Defence Weekly, 7 January 2004