(Ankara) Military service in Turkey is compulsory for all male
citizens between 20 - 41 years of age (with some exceptions such as
handicapped, mentally ill, and those plagued by ill health). The duration of
the basic military service varies: 12 months for privates (elementary or high
school graduates), 8 months for reserve officers (University graduates), and 6
months for short-term privates (those who have earned a university degree and
have not been enlisted as reserve officers).
Well with the middleclass now worrying about sending off their sons to an ever creasing number of violent conflicts (Syria, Iraq) the ratcheting of tensions with Greece and Israel, the Turkish Government is worried that those concerns may result in people voting elsewhere the coming election . so in order to belay those fears, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım today has stated that
the Government will allow families to pay for exemptions to military service.
In other words the government is happy to accept a bung so that your son doesn’t
have to sign up. Funny enough it was
corruption which brought down the Ottoman Empire.
