The General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces (

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

: ''Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri Genelkurmay Başkanlığı'', ''abbreviation: TSK Gnkur. Bşk.lığı'') is the highest staff organization in the Turkish Armed Forces.

Chief of the General Staff

Source: The Chief of the General Staff is the most senior ranked officer in the

Turkish Armed Forces The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF; , TSK) are the armed forces, military forces of the Turkey, Republic of Turkey. The TAF consist of the Turkish Army, Land Forces, the Turkish Navy, Naval Forces and the Turkish Air Force, Air Forces. The Chief of ...

. The current

Chief of the General Staff The Chief of the General Staff (CGS) is a post in many armed forces (militaries), the head of the military staff. List * Chief of the General Staff (Abkhazia) * Chief of General Staff (Afghanistan) * Chief of the General Staff (Albania) * C ...

Metin Gürak General Metin Gürak is a Turkish people, Turkish general who is currently serving as the chief of the Turkish General Staff since 16 August 2023, replacing General Yaşar Güler. Prior to his appointment, Gürak served as commander of the Second ...

. His predecessor was

Hulusi Akar Hulusi Akar (born 12 March 1952) is a retired four-star Turkish Armed Forces general who served as the Minister of National Defense from 2018 to 2023. He previously served as the 29th chief of the Turkish General Staff. Akar also served as a bri ...

. According to the

Constitution of Turkey The Constitution of Turkey, formally known as the Constitution of the Republic of Türkiye (), and informally as the Constitution of 1982 (), is Turkey's fundamental law. It establishes the organization of the government, and sets out the pr ...

, the Chief of the General Staff reports to the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

and serves as Commander of the

. In times of war, the Chief of the General Staff assumes the authority of Commander in Chief on behalf of the

, which represents the authority of Commander in Chief on behalf of the

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. Commanding the Armed Forces and establishing the policies and programs related with the preparation of personnel for combat,

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...

, operations, organization, training and logistic services are the responsibilities of the General Staff. Furthermore, the General Staff coordinates the military relations of the Turkish Armed Forces with its counterparts in the member states of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

and other friendly nations. The Chief of the General Staff holds the fifth-highest rank in the state protocol list, behind the President of the Republic, the President of the Constitutional Court, the Chairman of the Grand National Assembly and the Vice President, on the protocol of the Republic of Turkey. It is customary for the Chief of the General Staff to have held the post of Commander of the Turkish Land Forces prior to their appointment. Although it is not a legal requirement.

Turkey's defence organisation

The hierarchy, representation and employment of the

within the state organization is regulated by the

constitution of Turkey The Constitution of Turkey, formally known as the Constitution of the Republic of Türkiye (), and informally as the Constitution of 1982 (), is Turkey's fundamental law. It establishes the organization of the government, and sets out the pr ...

. The Turkish Armed Forces consists of General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces, the

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

, the

Turkish Naval Forces The Turkish Naval Forces (), or Turkish Navy (), is the naval warfare service branch of the TAF. The modern naval traditions and customs of the Turkish Navy can be traced back to 10 July 1920, when it was established as the ''Directorate o ...

and the Turkish Air Forces. According to the constitution, the 'Commander in Chief' is within the spiritual entity of the Grand National Assembly and represented by the President who is responsible to the Grand National Assembly for national security and the preparation of the Turkish Armed Forces to defend the country. However, the authority to declare a state of war and send the Turkish Armed Forces to foreign countries or allow foreign armed forces to be stationed in Turkey require a vote of approval from the Turkish Parliament. Although president can decide to use the Armed Forces for defence of the country if there is a sudden outside attack against the country. Minister of National Defence is subordinate to the President and responsible for recruitment, procurement, production, logistics, medical care and other tasks in the preparation of Armed Forces and its personnel for military operations. The Chief of the General Staff is subordinate to the

Minister of National Defense A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divided ...

and responsible for: * Preparing the Armed Forces and its personnel for military operations * Gathering military intelligence * Organization and training of the Armed Forces * Management of the logistic services The Chief of the General Staff is also, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces in the name of the

, in wartime. The commanders of the three services (Army, Navy and Air Force) reports directly to the

Special Forces Command

Special Forces Command (), nicknamed Maroon Berets () because of their distinctive service headgear, are the

special operations Special operations or special ops are military activities conducted, according to NATO, by "specially designated, organized, selected, trained, and equipped forces using unconventional techniques and modes of employment." Special operations ma ...

unit of the

. Special Forces Command is not aligned to any force command in TAF, getting orders directly from the General Staff .

List of the Chiefs of the General Staff

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:General Staff Of The Turkish Armed Forces Military of Turkey Staff (military)