Turkey Is Now Building Modern Fighting Forces

Wanganui Chronicle, 21 December 1950, Page 5

Turkey Is Now Building Modern Fighting Forces

(By HARRY WHYTE, Reuters Correspondent in Ankara). American Army, Navy and Air Force specialists are helping Turkey to embark on a greatly increased programme of training in modern methods of warfare. Driving force behind the programme, according to Major-General William Arnold, Chief of the United Stales Joint Military Mission for Aid. to Turkey, is General Nuri Yamut, Turkey's Chief of the General Staff. General Yamwt was appointed to the post in June. General Arnold became Chief of the American Military Aid Mission in August in succession to Major-General Horace L. Mcßride. First news of the new training programme was given by the President of the Turkish Republic, Mr. Celal Bayar, on November 1, when he opened the winter session of the Grand National Assembly. Mr. Bayar stated that legislation would be introduced this session to permit reorganisation to give the Turkish Armed Forces a greater number of specialists and noncommissioned officers with intensified training.

“General Yamut is a first rate Chief of Staff,” General Arnold said. “He is the kind of man who gets out of his office as much as possible and goes to see for himself what is going on in the Army camps and training He has fully and thoroughly appreciated the need of the Turkish Armed Forces for training organised on a scientific basis. It is thanks to him that the armed forces are introducing ability classifications based on psychological tests. Now, by a series of simple tests adapted with a few modifications from those used by the United States Army, they are going to find square pegs for the square holes and the round pegs for the round ones,” said General “Using the right man in the right place means a considerable economy in manpower. The same principle, as General Yamut has clearly understood, must guide this mission in determining the aid Turkey needs in supplies of armaments and other equipment. It is no use bringing, say, 1000 American lorries into Turkey if you have not got 1000 trained lorry drivers. Not merely could you not use the lorries efficiently, but if you tried to use them with ill-trained drivers, you would, in the course of a few years, be confronted with the situation where a very substantial part of the dollars which the United States gives to supply military aid here would be going on spare parts. If that situation went on. you would be spending more on spare parts than on new equipment.”

“In 1947, the Turkish Army was deficient in modern weapons and equipment and was poor in mobility. The Turkish Air Force was short of both aircraft and competent flying men. By World War II standards, the Turkish Navy was a negligible force lacking equipment and experience,” he said. “Today, I can say that that situation has been rectified to a great extent and is being still further rectified. It would be a mistake to try to estimate the value of United States Military Aid to Turkey merely in terms of dollars it has cost, although that had reached the not inconsiderable figuiT of 175 million dollars by the end of the 1949 fiscal year. “The Turkish officers and men who have gone to Korea to join lhe Uniled Nations forces are keen and welltrained. I am confident that they will give a good account of themselves and will show both the fighting ability that is traditional in the Turkish Army and lhe value of the training this mission has helped to give them.”