The 6th Corps (Turkish: 6. Kolordu) is a

field corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was formally introduced March 1, 1800, when Napoleon ordered Gener ...

of the

Turkish Army The Turkish Land Forces () is the main branch of the Turkish Armed Forces responsible for Army, land-based military operations. The army was formed on November 8, 1920, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Significant campaigns since the ...

. It is headquartered at

Adana Adana is a large city in southern Turkey. The city is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the northeastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It is the administrative seat of the Adana Province, Adana province, and has a population of 1 81 ...

Adana Province Adana Province () is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality of Turkey located in central Cilicia. The administrative seat of the province is the city of Adana, home to 78.25% of the r ...

, and is part of Second Army. The 1974 Turkish military operations in Cyprus consisted of two distinct offensives, the first being "Atilla 1", which commenced in the early hours of July 20, 1974, with an amphibious landing force, directed by the 6th Corps, forming a beachhead at

Kyrenia Kyrenia is a city on the northern coast of Cyprus, noted for its historic harbour and castle. It is under the '' de facto'' control of Northern Cyprus. While there is evidence showing that the wider region of Kyrenia has been populated before, ...

's Five Mile Beach. It comprised only infantry troops, but was supported by rolling air and naval artillery attacks, and met with limited resistance from the Cyprus National Guard, which was in disarray as a result of the July 15, 1974 coup. The majority of fighting ceased on the 23rd of July, though sporadic clashes continued after this date until the 14th of August. "Atilla 1" successfully achieved its objective of forming a bridgehead with the

Turkish Cypriot Turkish Cypriots or Cypriot Turks ( or ; ) are so called ethnic Turks originating from Cyprus. Turkish Cypriots are mainly Sunni Muslims. Following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1571, about 30,000 Turkish settlers were given land onc ...

enclave of Agyrta-Nicosia.Drousiotis, 2004. When the corps that carried out the Cyprus Operation landed in Cyprus, its name was changed to the Cyprus Turkish Peace Forces. It was re-established immediately after the operation. 6th Corps was reported in 2004 to consist of: * 5th Armored Brigade (

Gaziantep Gaziantep, historically Aintab and still informally called Antep, is a major city in south-central Turkey. It is the capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Medi ...

) * 39th Mechanized Infantry Brigade (

İskenderun İskenderun (), historically known as Alexandretta (, ) and Scanderoon, is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Hatay Province, Turkey. Its area is 247 km2, and its population is 251,682 (2022). It is on the Mediterranean coas ...

) * 106th Artillery Regiment ( Islahiye) The corps was temporarily reduced in status to a division, the 6th Mechanised Infantry Division, in late 2011 after the arrest of Lieutenant General Mehmet Eröz as part of the "Internet memorandum" case, but by June 2012 Turkish press reports were reporting that it would be upgraded in status to corps level once more. In 2015, Osman Erbaş was appointed commander of the 6th Mechanized Infantry Division (the former 6th Corps. He was in this role during the 15 July 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt and gave orders to his subordinates to resist the attempt. He afterwards attended ceremonies for those men of the security services who were killed in the coup attempt, stating that their killers "are not soldiers", but "murderers". Erbaş was a witness in the March 2017 trial of 35 former soldiers of the 106th Artillery Regiment who were accused of participating in the coup. In fact, it was only 2021, it was raised to the corps level again and Lieutenant General Metin Tokel was appointed as the commander.

References

*Phase Line Attila: The Amphibious Campaign for Cyprus, 1974, by Edward J. Erickson and Mesut Uyar. Quantico, VA: Marine Corps Univ. Press, 2020. 235 pages. Free hardcover and e-book. *Hughes-Wilson, John. "The Forgotten War: A Brief History of the Battle for Cyprus, 1974." The RUSI Journal 156, no. 5 (2011): 84–93. *Lale Sarıibrahimoğlu
Chapter 5, 'Turkish Armed Forces'
i
Umit Cizre (ed.), 'Democratic Oversight and Reform of the Security Sector in Turkey,'
LIT/DCAF 2008, . Corps of Turkey {{mil-unit-stub