THE TURKISH ARMY, A GIANT WITH CLAY FEET
FEBRUARY 20, 2018 STRATEGIKA51
The second NATO Army, backed by local proxy forces on the ground, wades for a month in front of a small border enclave defended by a militia for the control of 12% of the locality. The Turkish Army is not really what it was in Gallipoli.
The battle for control of Afrin in Syria has just confirmed the mismanagement within the Turkish armed forces since the failed coup against President Erdogan and the terrible purges that decimated the Turkish military elites.
Using F-16 fighter jets, German-made Leopard 2 tanks and the US-designed M-60 alongside the rebels of the Free Syrian Army franchise, the Turks were unable to storm a small enclave. Border located a stone's throw from their territory and this does not prevent Erdogan to threaten Damascus with an invasion to Homs (central Syria) if Syrian troops would ever help the YPG defending Afrin or walk triumphantly on Minbej where are stationed American forces supposedly allied.
Turkey has a very rich and impressive military history, especially when it was the metropolis of the Ottoman Empire. However, the current Turkish Army appears to be a giant with clay feet, suffering from a clear deficiency in command and leadership.
Certainly, even in the state, this Army can easily gain the upper hand in the event of a possible confrontation with a Syrian Army drained and worn out by seven years of total war, but at the price of a general mobilization, the employment of four to five complete divisions and the acceptance of heavy losses by Ankara.
By relying exclusively on intelligence and police forces to weaken the Army, Erdogan strengthened his internal power but lost the military tool. The case of Afrin is the illustration.
The purges within the armed forces have always disrupted the military command and precipitated defeats in the event of conflict.
In 193p, a Red Army that suffered from Stalin's purges proved incapable of overcoming the tenacity of the Finns, raising the astonishment of a Germany that decided to invade the USSR a year and a half later.
