This article was from 2013 but it has some interesting analysis.
Ankara will impose a measure Jan. 1, 2014, that will
reduce the overall size of the Turkish armed forcesby shortening its conscription requirements. At 750,000 troops, Turkey has the second-largest military of any NATO member, but the conscription reform will lower the number by roughly 70,000. Political and economic considerations may have informed Ankara's decision, but ultimately the move was made to reflect the changing geopolitical conditions under which Turkey now finds itself. Historically, Turkey's location and geography has necessitated a robust military. Located at the crossroads between Asia and Europe, the country was critical terrain during the Cold War. In 1952, Turkey became a member of NATO, serving as the southwestern bulwark against the Warsaw Pact. It mustered a large standing military by establishing compulsory service for all Turkish men. Currently, a healthy Turkish man with no college education serves for 15 months. Prior to 2003, the minimum requirement was 18 months. The upcoming change will reduce this term to 12 months.
With such a short service time, many conscripts fail to gain experience after their basic training. As a result, the Turkish military has a small professional core that is augmented by lightly trained forces. This model made sense during the Cold War, when Turkey was facing similarly structured Soviet and Soviet-backed militaries. But it now must contend with
domestic terrorism,
Kurdish insurgents and, more recently,
border issues with neighboring Syria, still in the throes of civil war.
Smaller, more agile professional forces, along with Turkey's paramilitary forces, are better suited to address these security concerns. There are also political elements to the force reduction. For the past decade, the ruling Justice and Development Party has gradually undermined the political influence of the Turkish military, and the conscription reform can be seen as an extension of that trend. Moreover, the reform may earn the ruling party a lot of political capital with voters ahead of the 2014 presidential election and the 2015 president elections.
Source:
Stratfor | Geopolitical intelligence, economic, political, and military strategic forecasting (You have to have a subscription to read the article but I got this one free.)
