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Turkish military struggles to find new recruits

The Turkish Armed Forces has to overcome serious structural problems, including inadequate recruitment, before switching from a conscription-based military to a fully professional force.
Turkish soldiers stand guard as a funeral convoy, carrying coffins of drowned Syrian migrants including the three-year old boy Aylan Kurdi, drives to the Turkish-Syrian border in Suruc, bordering with the northern Syrian town of Kobani, Turkey, September 4, 2015. Two Syrian toddlers who drowned with their mother as they were trying to reach Greece were laid to rest in the Syrian town of Kobani on Friday, a Reuters witness said. A photograph of the body of one of the toddlers, 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi, washed
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According to the official website of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), Turkey has the second-largest army in NATO. As of March 1, the TSK has 610,095 personnel. Of this number, 315,229 (52%) are civilians conscripted for stints of either six or 12 months. When more than half of its personnel are conscripts, it is difficult to say that the TSK is made up of volunteers and professional personnel.

The TSK maintains that its Cold War force now faces the tough mission of reducing its size while increasing its effectiveness and transitioning from a citizen army to a professional one.

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