Turkey Joined the Allies

they could reinforce the greek defense against germany

 

maybe? Perhaps good bye to the Polesti(sp?) oil fields too.

 

And gobble the Greeks along the way themselves

 

aid in the invasion of Iraq? Perhaps more? Form a new Ottoman Empire?

 

Now seriously, in what scenario would Turkey have a casus belli with Germany? And what timeframe are we talking about?

 

Is there, or was there, really any likelihood of Turkey ever allying with Greece.
Those two states don't exactly 'get on' do they.

Cheers,
Adam.

 

Agreed. I doubt that alliance would have survived. I do not know much about Turkey's military capabilities during the war nor how it fared after WWI.

 

Cant imgaine Turkey getting in on the conflict on any side, but wouldnt siding with Germany seem more logical for Turkey as it disliked the Brits?

 

turkish army was a almost 3 times bigger than greek army

 

Though I agree that with their military history, if Turkey did join in I see it as more likely thay'd have sided with the axis, I'm not sure a dislike of the British was enough to base that choice on.
Don't forget Slon, almost everyone disliked us anyway, including many allies .
Turkey really dislike/d the Greeks.

Cheers,
Adam.

 

Then that Ironcross would be meaningless Check out the attached picture.

What if Turkey joined the allies? Well in fact Turkey did join the allies. Here is a part of Ismet Inönü's article I found in Wiki;

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After the death of Atatürk, Inönü was seen as the most appropriate candidate to succeed him, and was elected as the second President of the Republic of Turkey. World War II broke out in the first year of his presidency, and both the Allies and the Axis started to put pressure on Inönü to bring Turkey into the war on their side. The Germans sent Franz von Papen to Ankara, while Winston Churchill secretly met with Inönü inside a train wagon near Adana on January 30, 1943. Inönü later met with Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill at the Second Cairo Conference on December 4-6, 1943. Until 1941, both Roosevelt and Churchill thought that Turkey's continuing neutrality would serve the interests of the Allies by blocking the Axis from reaching the strategic oil reserves of the Middle East. But the early victories of the Axis up to the end of 1942 caused Roosevelt and Churchill to re-evaluate a possible Turkish participation in the war on the side of the Allies. Turkey had maintained a decently-sized Army and Air Force throughout the war, and Churchill wanted the Turks to open a new front in the Balkans. Roosevelt, on the other hand, still believed that a Turkish attack would be too risky, and an eventual Turkish failure would have disastrous effects for the Allies. Inönü knew very well the hardships which his country had suffered during 11 years of incessant war between 1911 and 1922 and was determined to keep Turkey out of another war as long as he could. Inönü also wanted assurances on financial and military aid for Turkey, as well as a guarantee that the United States and the United Kingdom would stand beside Turkey in case of a Soviet invasion of the Turkish Straits after the war. The fear of a Soviet invasion and Stalin's unconcealed desire to control the Turkish Straits eventually caused Turkey to give up its principle of neutrality in foreign relations and join NATO in 1952.

Perhaps the biggest political achievement of Inönü was keeping his country out of World War II until February 1945, when Turkey entered the war on the side of the Allies against Germany and Japan.
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Just out of curiosity, what type of aircraft and tanks did Turkey posses during this time? Any clue as to the size of the army compared to the other belligerent countries

 

I agree and the relationship between the Turks and Greeks can be traced thousands of years.

As for as everyone disliking the British..... I happen to think that some of you guys are alright

 

I don't have a clue about the tanks, but Wiki has something about the aircrafts. No information about the amount though. But Turkish air force was the biggest among the Balkan Countries.

 

That is not a bad line up for aircraft

 

Unconfirmed, Turkish army possessed

100 Renault R-35
60 T-26
2 T-28
5 T-27
Total - 167
60 AC (Soviet and other)
56 PzKpfw III were delivered in 1943 from Germany, not sure what ausfrung but they had the 5cm L/60 main armament.
15 PzPpfwIV Ausf G's were delivered starting in 1943. Seven delivered in March and eight more delivered in May.

So they pretty much did the same thing with their armour.

 

On tanks,
Seems they had handfuls of French FT17 & H35, Some British Mark VI's, and assorted Soviet vehicles. 64 T26's looking like their most numerous type.

Perhaps more interestingly for this thread in 1943 they recieved 15 Panzer IV ausf. G's from germany. The source for this mentions Nazi attempts to encourage joining the war against the USSR but I couldn't really vouch for that as this is certainly not a corner of the War that I know much about.

Cheers,
Adam.

Sorry, cross-posted with pzjgr. Didn't include those Pz.3's either, though they're on the page I looked up.

 

No problem Adam. I know my list was incomplete and I was looking for a good accurate source. Alas, you found it. Thank you kindly sir.

 

I just found another interesting detail about Turkish Air Force during WWII. Many Turkish pilots were sent to Britain staring in 1939 to get flight training on contemporary modern aircrafts. 15 of them died there, 13 in training flights, one in a train accident and one of them was killed by Luftwaffe in a night flight. Now they are in a Turkish Air Force Cemetery in Brookwood British Military Cemetery. Seems like Turks did not hate the Brits that much.