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Thanks for clearing that up. By the way, I've always wanted to add Admiral Mehmet Ali Ulgen's photo:
Admiral Ulgen joined the Ottoman Navy in 1905 and participated in a number of naval operations from the Italo-Turkish War to the Balkan, WWI and Independence War. He was promoted to admiral rank in 1936.
Not sure if you have a proper list but I have a few Turkish admiral names should you consider them:
Admiral Fahri Engin (betw. 1928-35)
Admiral Ihsan Ozel
Admiral Rıfat Özdeş (betw. 1949-55 later senator from Democratic Party)
Admiral Zeki Ozak (admiral between 1950-60)
Admiral Afif Buyuktugrul (admiral between 1955-60)
Last quick note (I hope you don't mind them); there's a typo in Turkish Foreign Minister Tevfik Rustu Aras' name. Turkish alphabet does not have "w".
Given the turn of WWII events yes. Had there been a different situation, who knows...
Soviet Russia and the Turkish republic had developed a special friendship born of their common opposition to the west European powers in the period following World War I. Ataturk and Lenin were both revolutionaries fighting same enemies and Soviets had supported the Kemalists during the Greco-Turkish War in 1919-22. Partly In reaction to the dispute with Great Britain over the disposition of the Mosul oil, Turkey drew closer to the USSR, and the two powers signed the Treaty of Neutrality and Friendship.
The Western powers' failure to make good on guarantees to Turkey in the early and mid-1930s led to the convocation of a new conference on the Straits. At this conference, from which emerged the regime of the Montreux Convention (1936), the Soviets were able to assure passage for warships of Black Sea powers and to limit the movement of ships of other powers. The Montreux Convention was the first step by Great Britain and France "to encourage Turkey either to involve its war fleet in war against Germany or to maintain strict neutrality in the event of conflict between the Western Allies and Germany." These steps were ultimately successful.
In mid-1939 Stalin proposed to Great Britain and France a military assistance pact guaranteeing the integrity of all states from the Baltic to the Black Sea. When Britain and France declined, Stalin proposed to Turkey that it share sovereignty of the Straits jointly with the USSR. When Turkey responded by signing a military alliance with Great Britain and France (October 1939), Stalin proposed joint Soviet-German sovereignty of the Straits to Hitler. In 1940 his foreign minister Molotov publicly implicated Turkey in Allied designs on the Baku oilfields.
Germany's pressure on Turkey to join in a military alliance was not successful, but Turkey did sign a Treaty of Friendship which insured to Germany Turkish neutrality. This stance of neutrality, to which the Turks clung almost throughout the war, was not equivalent to passivity. As a senior Soviet historian has correctly pointed out, it was not always even equivalent to neutrality. Turkey remained formally neutral but sought to enhance its regional influence by bargaining with various belligerents. If in the end it gained nothing, this was because "every one of its demands came into conflict with the interests or the diplomatic tactics of the warring powers."
In late 1945 Stalin proposed to Turkey the joint Soviet-Turkish administration of the Straits, plus a general prohibition on passage by ships of states not bordering on the Black Sea. Turkey replied that these provisions would infringe its own independence and security. Great Britain and the United States strongly supported Turkey's position. Stalin's additional claims to the Turkish districts of Ardahan and Kars, which the Russian Empire had ruled from 1878 to 1917, did little to mollify the Western powers. The Truman Doctrine, proclaimed in 1947, only reinforced Turkey's resolve in standing up to the Soviets. Turkish-Soviet relations did not improve until after Stalin's death in 1953, when the Soviet government began trying to win over the Turkish government instead of undermining it.
By the time Stalin died in 1953, he had succeeded in alienating both Greece and Turkey. Greece and Turkey each joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1952.
Turkish armed forces used different models through time. They even had the German stahhelms from World War I.
German General inspecting German trained Ottoman troops on the front during the Great War (1918):
But the majority of the helmets were French I believe:
Turkish anti-tank unit:
Very good that you noticed that. I've already fixed that. Also changed the picture of admiral Mehmet Ali Ulgen
Not sure if you have a proper list but I have a few Turkish admiral names should you consider them:
Admiral Fahri Engin (betw. 1928-35)
Admiral Ihsan Ozel
Admiral Rıfat Özdeş (betw. 1949-55 later senator from Democratic Party)
Admiral Zeki Ozak (admiral between 1950-60)
Admiral Afif Buyuktugrul (admiral between 1955-60)
This is very valuable information. Do you have their photos by any chance ? Is that picture of Afif Buyuktugrul ? Do you know the service years of admiral Ihsan Ozel ?
Sorry that last picture is of Zeki Ozak, admiral since 1950 and Chief of Turkish Navy between 1960-61.
Commodore Ahmet Rasim Barkınay (1929-1947);
Excellent article about Turkish Navy can be found here:
http://ijnhonline.org/volume1_number1_Apr02/article_guvenc_turkey_navy.doc.htm
Random image of Turkish soldier in training:
Cdr. Bilal Talug:
Captain of Fleet Cdr. Sukru Bey (1928-34):
Cdr. Hidayet Bosut and Fleet Commander Admiral Sukru Okan:
Admiral Sukru Okan (1930-1944):
For those who are curious, link below is in Turkish but if you click on "Multimedia" written tab, you can access naval marches of the period.
http://www.denizlisesi.k12.tr/
Are those ones really naval marches ? Because female voices (in addition to the male ones) are not very much typical of military marches.
Loaded this scenario as Bulgaria. Waited till the Turks DOW Greece. Then declared war upon Turkey myslef. The Turks already took Kavala. I moved my troops to Istanbul, easily took it, hoping I would make an encirclement of the Turkish troops invaded Greece. But instead of that the Turkish cavalry rushed from Kavala to Varna, cut off my 10 Bulgarian divisions in Istanbul, the Turks attacked Istanbul from 3 provinces at once and on the next day slaughtered all 10 Bulgarian divisions there. In just a few days, after Bulgaria joined the war, I lost most of my Bulgarian army and it was pointless to continue the game because I was left with practically nothing to continue the war and the Turks were already approaching Sofia.
Isn't Turkey AI a little bit too aggresive in your scenario ?
Isn't Turkey AI a little bit too aggresive in your scenario ?
A human-controlled nation gets beaten by AI ? Yes, it's really weird.
Yes, it's a very good article. I only wish they added some interesting illustrations to it. In that case it would have been not just a very good but a superb article
Well, if those Turkish pilots lost some relatives who were on the sunken steamer wouldn't they want to avenge their loss ? I would. I might have bombed somebody myself. Besides that they didn't disobey any Ataturk's orders. They just took the initiative for a few hours. Then came back to the air base and behaved like all law abiding citizens.
Maybe he did. To the best of his skills.
Actually I tried to hold on in Plovdiv, as well as in Vearna after that, but the Turkish onslaught was unstoppable. It's not like in Vanilla, where AI is very often is too inactive.
This is just a chorus. You expected actual sailors to sing?
Seriously, the first one is the national anthem and the rest are mostly naval withe the exception of the "10th Year March" and the last one being "Teacher's March". If you want recordings from the 30's that's a little tough, but with some good research, possible.
This is the link you've been looking for:
http://www.zurnachat.com/forum/tarih/19139-tarihi-turk-donanma-gemileri.html
And this is another link you can use with a translator:
http://www.dzkk.tsk.tr/turkce/TarihiMiras/geneltarihce.php
http://www.trmilitary.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=11379&start=0
Turkish Fleet visiting Malta (UK) in 1936:
TCG Yavuz (former German Goeben) in Malta 1936:
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Turkish Fleet visiting Malta (UK) in 1936:
TCG Yavuz (former German Goeben) in Malta 1936:
These Turkish ships look more like WW I - era vessels. Must have been obsolete stuff for 1936.
This is just a chorus. You expected actual sailors to sing?
Well, yes, who else ?
As a rule military marches and songs are played and sung by military personnel.
Some of them are. Actually TCG Yavuz on the picture is the only remaining German vessel from WWI since all the remaining vessels were scrapped by Allies after the war. Yavuz on the other hand had been refurbished after the war twice (1928 and 1934 in Golcuk Shipyard) by German engineers. The younger German engineers, having for the first time seen a German made vessel were fascinated.
Then you should be relieved to learn that these are performed by Turkish Armed Forces Orchestra Band.Well, yes, who else ?
No, it's not too aggressive. I tried Greece. The Turks were very active at the very beginning. Their navy entrapped 3 divisions of mine on the islands in the Aegean Sea. Then the Turks attacked from both Bursa and Izmir and completely destroyed those 3 Greek divisions. It was a serious blow because Greece starts with something like 18 divisions only. Nevertheless with the new divisions arrived from Yugoslavia I could slow down the Turkish advance very soon. The front was stabilized and it looked like a stalemate.
