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Cyprus Forces in the Turkish-Administered Area
In 1990 the dominant military force in the
Turkish-administered
northern sector of the island remained, as it had been
since the
Turkish invasion of 1974, the 28th and 39th infantry
divisions of
the Turkish Army, backed by an independent armored brigade
and some
artillery support. The 28th division was headquartered at
Asha
(Pasaköy) to the northeast of Nicasia, and the 39th
division near
Morphou (Güzelyurt). The corps reserve was at Kythrea
(Degirmenlik)
to the northeast of Nicasia. The Turkish contingent was
referred to
officially as the Cyprus Turkish Peace Force. The original
force of
40,000 troops was reduced shortly after the 1974 invasion.
In early
1990, Turkish defense authorities claimed that the Cyprus
contingent amounted to only 17,500, whereas Greek Cypriot
authorities placed its strength at 35,000. Independent
sources
believed that the force numbered about 30,000.
The Turkish detachments on Cyprus were part of the
Turkish
Aegean Army command structure, with headquarters at zmir
on the
Turkish mainland. However, the commander of the Turkish
troops
reported directly to the Turkish General Staff in the
capital,
Ankara. The commander on Cyprus as of late 1989 was
Lieutenant
General Sabahattin Akinci. Although responsible for all
security
questions, Akinci was not directly involved in political
matters of
northern Cyprus. The principal missions of the Turkish
Army
contingent were to maintain the security of the Turkish
Cypriot
community, defend the borders established in 1974, protect
against
any Greek Cypriot guerrilla attacks or other cross-border
actions,
and assist in the training of members of the Turkish
Cypriot armed
force.
Details on the arms and equipment of the Turkish Army
forces
were not available, although they were known to include
M-47 and
M-48 tanks and M-113 APCs of United States origin, as well
as
105mm, 155mm, and 203mm guns and howitzers. The forces
were
supplied with 40mm antiaircraft guns and, according to
Greek
sources, the Milan antitank missile. Turkey had
supplemented its
armored inventory in the late 1980s with M-48A5 tanks that
had been
upgraded and mounted with 105mm guns as part of a major
modernization program throughout the Turkish Army. As of
1990, the
Turkish forces on Cyprus were believed to have more than
200
converted M-48s and 100 of the original M-48s and M-47s.
The
Turkish forces were also equipped with light aircraft and
Bell
UH-1D helicopters, operating from a newly constructed
airfield at
Lefkoniko (Geçitkale). Small groups of combat jet aircraft
of the
Turkish Air Force occasionally appeared at the new field,
but none
was based there.
Even before independence, the Turkish Cypriot community
had
maintained its own paramilitary force (the TMT), trained
and
equipped by the Turkish Army contingent on the island. In
1967 this
force was renamed the Mücahit (fighter), and in 1975 the
Mücahit
was renamed the Turkish Cypriot Security Force. As of
1989, the
strength of this force was believed to be about 4,000. It
was
organized into seven infantry battalions armed with light
weapons
plus some artillery units equipped with mortars.
The Turkish Cypriot Security Force was commanded in
1989 by an
officer of the Turkish Army, Brigadier General Bilgi
Buyukunal, who
had both operational and administrative responsibilities,
as well
as control over the police force. The commander was
responsible to
the prime minister of the self-proclaimed "Turkish
Republic of
Northern Cyprus" ("TRNC") through the minister of foreign
affairs
and defense, Kenan Atakol. A unified military-civilian
defense
staff of the ministry was responsible for defense policy
and
strategy. Although legally separate from the Turkish Army
on the
island, the Turkish Cypriot Security Force was believed to
remain
under the de facto operational control of the Turkish
forces. It
also depended on Turkey for training and equipment. Most
of its
officers were regular Turkish Army officers on secondment.
Its
announced budget for 1990 was US$3.9 million, an unusually
small
amount, representing only 1.5 percent of the total
government
budget. Observers believed that many of its expenses were
absorbed
by the Turkish Army.
Turkish Cypriot males were liable to conscription at
age
eighteen for a twenty-four-month period of service.
Discharged
soldiers served in the reserves until the age of fifty.
The number
of first-line and second-line reserves was estimated at
5,000 and
10,000, respectively, as of 1989.
Data as of January 1991
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