Turkey: Law No. 1111 of 1927, Military Law
Publisher | National Legislative Bodies / National Authorities |
Publication Date | 20 March 1927 |
Cite as | Turkey: Law No. 1111 of 1927, Military Law [Republic of Türkiye], 20 March 1927, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b4d020.html [accessed 8 June 2023] |
Comments | This is an unofficial translated consolidation of the Law dated 21 June 1927, which was transmitted to UNHCR on 23 May 1997. This document includes only selected provisions. |
Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Article 1
Every male Turkish citizen is obliged to perform his military service in accordance with this law.(The last paragraph of the article is abrogated by Article 119 of Law number 211 Article 119 dated 04/01/1961.)
Article 2 (Amendment: 2850 - 20/11/1935) (Amendment: 1st paragraph: 3358 - 16/04/1987)
Military [eligibility] age for every man shall be according to his age recorded in his basic citizenship register and shall begin on 1st January of the year when he reaches the age of 20 and shall end on 1st January of the year when he reaches the age of 41. Military [eligibility] age shall mostly be for a period of 21 years, but [the period] may be extended, or reduced, by up to five years following the Chief of General Staff's Office demonstrating this to be necessary, the Ministry of National Defence proposing it and Council of Ministers decreeing it. For persons not recorded in one of the local [i.e. national] citizenship registers, their foreign registration shall be considered as a local registration.The starting date of military [eligibility] age for immigrants shall be calculated according to, and on the basis of,the age [recorded] in their citizenship registerin the year when they entered the country. Those who do not have their date of birth written in terms of months and days on their citizenship birth papers shall be considered to have been on born on 1st July in the year of their birth.
Those who have completed their 22nd year by 1st January in the year when they arrived shall not be made subject to active service and shall be put on the reserve [list] of recruits for their age group. A delay for whatever reason in such persons being recorded in the citizenship register shall not result in their military [eligibility] age starting later, [as] it shall start according to their age when they arrived. These people shall not be called to arms for training, maneouvres or other tasks until two years have elapsed from the date that they are recorded on the citizenship registers.
(The 4th paragraph is abrogated in accordance with Article 3 of Law no.1315 dated 27th July, 1970)
Those who are not settled by the government and those who do not want to settle in places designated by the government shall have the right to postpone [their military service] for not more than two years.
Of those who have had sufficient education to be reserve officers in their country [of origin] and on their date of arrival have completed their 22nd year, or who have performed their military service in their country [of origin] but have not completed their 22nd year, those who seek to be reserve officers and those who have not completed their 22nd year when they arrive and have not performed their military service in their country, after the two year period of postponement shall be made subject to the statutes of Law No: 1076.
Those immigrants who previously performed their military service as reserve officers oractive officers in the armies of the governments to whom they were subject, and who have the necessary qualifications, may be made reserve officers after being trained.
During general mobilization, there shall be no exemptions.
However, those for whom three months have not elapsed since the date when they were recorded in the citizenship register shall not be taken under arms until three months have passed. Those who do not record themselves in the citizenship records shall not be able to benefit from the aforementioned exemption.
Those who can prove that they have performed their military service, or instead paid compensation, in their former country shall not be held subject to active service but shall be put on the reserve [list] with the local recruits of their age group. Those citizens who have been transferred by the government from one place of settlement within Turkey to another and who are subject to active service but who have not yet performed it shall be called up after two years' postponement from the date of resettlement.
Those refugees and foreigners who are not recognized as immigrants according to the law but who attain Turkish citizenship shall perform their military service in the same way as the local recruits of their age, according to the age they were when they obtained Turkish citizenship.
Article 3
Military [eligibility] age shall be divided into three periods: the draft period, active service, and the reserve [list].Article 4 (Amendment: 11/8/1941 - 4102/1)
The draft period is the period starting from the beginning of military [eligibility] age and continuing until the time of entry into a unit.Those who are in the draft period but whose time for military call up in accordance with Article 8 has not yet come, and those who are aged 19, may, during mobilization or states of emergency, be conscripted to the army upon the request of the Ministry of Defence, the agreement of the Executive Council of Ministers and confirmation by the President
In such cases, those who have been drafted shall be transferred. Those who have not been drafted shall immediately be drafted when military boards have been convened, and those about whom it has been so decided shall be conscripted to the military.
The military service of those so conscripted, prior to the day that they must be conscripted by law, shall be calculated as part of their active military service.
Article 5 (Amendment: 25/1/1984 - 2973/1)
(Amendment: 20/2/1992 - 3775/1) The active service period for private soldiers and non-commissioned officers in Land, Sea, Air Forces and General Command of Gendarmerie shall be 18 months. Taking the needs of Armed Forces into consideration, this period can be reduced to 15 months in peace time and later on to 12 months by a decision of the Council of Ministers. However, the military service of those who are under the provisions of Law No. 1076 shall be as follows: those candidates who by their own wish or as a result of the selection [procedure] are not reserve officer candidates who are to fulfill their conscription as private soldiers or non-commissioned officers, and the service period of those who have not participated in the selection [procedure] without excuse, shall be subject to the same draft, and the service period shall be half of the service perioddetermined for reserve officer candidates.[1]
(Amendment: 2973- 25.1.1984)
These periods of service shall start from the date of transfer from the military service branch office. Those who have rendered military service in excess of the periods set out [above] shall have those excess periods of service deducted from [the end of] their military [eligibility] age by twice the amount [of the excess served].
Apart from the principles set out in this law, or as long as active service has not been rendered, none can be exempted from the military [eligibility] age.
Article 10 (Amendment 20/11/1984 - 3081/1)
The principles relating to those who shall be subject to military service obligations and how these obligations shall be rendered are set out below:1. (Amendment 16/4/1987 - 3358/6 ) The number of the soldiers to be conscripted for military service for every call-up year, shall be determined by the Ministry of Defence based onthe previous year, and shall be communicated to the Office of the General Chief of Staff. The Office of the GeneralChief of Staff shall determine the numbers required by the Turkish Armed Forces and shall inform the Ministry of Defence.
2. (Amendment: 21/5/1992 - 3802/2 ) All of those who are to render their military service in that year [i.e. without conscription being postponed] shall be subject to basic military training in accordance with the existing call-up system. If in a call-up term the number of the soldiers being transferred to the training centres in each draft period is higher than the requirement specified by the Office of the Chief of General Staff, the surplus number of soldiers to be conscripted shall be considered to have fulfilled their military service, following their military training, by paying half the Turkish lira equivalent of the fixed foreign exchange fee for exemption from military service at the Turkish Central Bank's foreign currency buying rate for 1st January of that year, or by working in a public institution or organization, if so desired.
Those who areabsentee conscripts, draft evaders or unregistered [for military service] shall not be included among the soldiers who are surplus [to requirements].
7. (Amendment: 16/4/1987 - 3358/6) During mobilization or war, the provisions in this article, relating to the sums payable for exemption from military service or performing military service by working in a public institution or organization shall not be applied.
8. According to the Turkish Armed Forces Health Aptitude Regulation, those whose [level of] physical capability is not suitable for military service shall be exempted from military service.
10. Those immigrants who have completed their 22nd year before coming to Turkey, or who are understood to have already completed their military service in the country of origin and who have obtained Turkish citizenship, shall not be made soldiers.
12. Refugees and those who are not citizens of the Turkish Republic shall not be made soldiers.
Military Draft
Article 14 (Amendment: 4/4/1929 - 1413/1)
The term "Military Draft" means the investigations conducted on those who reached military [eligibility] age concerning their records in the military register, their health, fitness, literacy, educational qualifications, skills and address.Those of military [eligibility] age who are within the military draft period shall be subject to [one of] two drafts, referred to as the "initial draft" and the "final draft" the first shall start on the first day of January in the year they have become 20 years' old and end in June and the latter in every military service office shall last from the first day of July to the end of October. As these drafts are implemented, the drafts for the reserve and the recruits who are authorised shall also be implemented.
Draft process for those of military [eligibility] age
Initial Draft
Article 17 (Amendment: 27/7/1970 - 1315/1 )
Every year the registration lists of persons who have reached military [eligibility] age and are to be conscripted, to be determined according to citizenship records, shall be published by being hung on the notice boards of military service offices and village headman's offices, where they are registered, between 1st to 30th April.This announcement shall be considered as an official notification.Those citizens to be conscripted who, having reached military [eligibility] age but whose names for whatever reason do not occur or are written wrongly on the lists hanging in the offices of the village or district headmen are obliged to apply to the citizenship administration offices by 15th May to have the necessary corrections made. Those who do not apply within the time limit shall be considered as evaders of the initial draft and shall be subject to Article 83.
How the initial draft of those who have reached military service age and the draft of reserves should be conducted and other matters concerning the drafting of reserves shall be prescribed in regulations.
Final Draft
Article 20
Every year, starting from the first day of July, the final drafts prepared by the Military Council are begunfor those recorded on the initial draft form of that year together with the final drafts of those who were left for the following year after having been drafted by the Military Council the previous year.Article 24
The Military Service Branch Offices shall, by corresponding with the highest administrative competent person in the area, prepare a memorandum of call-up that is required in order for the Military Council to convene on the day that has been decided in accordance with this law, and in order for those who have reached military [eligibility] age that year and those who have been left over for that year from the previous year to come on the day decided, and they [i.e. the military service branch offices] shall send it by way of the chief administrative officer in the area to the council or board of village and district elders and shall demand that they sign to say they have received it.Article 25
The boards or councils of elders who receive the memorandum ofcall-up shall inform those recorded in the memorandum in person of the call-up, if they arepresent in the village or district, or else their father, mother, siblings or relatives if they are not. Those summoned are obliged to be present at the Military Council with their [copy of the] memorandum on the day indicated on the memorandum to learn and inform the Council as to where those not present in the village or district are, with what work they are involved, and in the case of people present in the village or district who are too ill or invalid to go to the sub-province centre, the nature of the illness or invalidity, and if there are any in prison, why and where they are in prison, and how long they shall remain there, and if there are any persons studying in middle or high school, which school, and for how long they have been studying.Article 26 (Amendment: 21/5/1992 - Article 3801/3)
The persons summoned are obliged to be present in person, with their birth certificate and document issued by the college administration showing their educational status if they have studied at college:-at the military [service] council to be convened in the sub-province centre if they are to be found in their village or district or in another village or district within the boundaries of their sub-province, or
- at the council to be convened in the sub-province centre where they are to be found if they are outside the boundaries of their sub-province, or
-or at the nearest embassy or consulate if they are to be found in a foreign country.
Those who are too ill or debilitated to report in person, those who are in prison or detention, and those who are in middle or high school education and have not finished school shall send reports, in conformity with the procedures relating to their illness or incapacitation, or endorsed documents issued by the schools where they are studying or from the Turkish embassies or consulates, as evidence of their status, or shall declare the reasons for their imprisonment or detention, and, whether or not the military councils and embassies or consulates have been notified of this, they should ask the councils and boards of elders and similar persons and relevant institutions about the procedures to be undertaken, and they are obliged to have their military service decided according to the results of their inquiries and examinations.
The draft of a person reporting to a military service branch office located outside his [original] sub-province or to an embassy or consulate shall be forwarded to his [original] military service branch office together with, if they exist, medical reports, educational documents, or [documents stating] the reasons for his imprisonment or detention, and the military service of such persons reporting [corrected version; original says: "military service of such documents"] shall be decided according to such documents.
The medical examination of any person applying to Turkish embassies or consulates abroad claiming to be unfit for military service shall be made at the official hospitals deemed appropriate by the embassy or consulate, and the medical reports to be obtained after the medical examinations shall be sent to the Ministry of National Defence after endorsement by the relevant embassy or consulate. The military procedures for such a person shall be decided by the Ministry of National Defence as a result of an investigation to be carried out on the basis of such medical reports. If any objection is raised against such a decision, the procedures shall be carried out according to a medical report obtained following a medical examination to be conducted at a military hospital in the country. Where a complaint or information is received regarding the fitness for military service of a person who had been declared as unfit, the actual condition of health of such person shall be investigated jointly by the Ministry of National Defence and Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the place concerned, and those who, as a result of the investigation appear to be fit for military service shall be transferred to fully-equipped military hospitals and shall be subject to definite procedures according to the reports submitted by the health boards.
Article 27
On the day when a decision is to be made, in the village or district where their draft is to be made, the names of the persons to be drafted shall be read out. The councils and boards eldersand their friends shall be asked whether or not the [persons whose] names [have been read out] have come and whether those who have come are [really] the persons whose names have been called out. The birth certificates of persons who have come shall be asked for and compared with the names on the form. If there are any discrepancies, the reason for this shall be asked and when the matter is resolved, it shall be corrected in the legal office and everybody shall be [medically] examined by the doctor[s] of the [military] council. The decision as to their military service shall be taken according to whether they are fit or unfit for military service and whether they are within the scope of the conditions of short service, and this shall be notified to the persons to be drafted and shall be entered in the draft form in the [military service] branch office and identity records [office] and in the designated place in the birth certificate.The doctor shall enter on the forms what the illness is, whether or not he is fit for medical service and according to which article on the Physical Fitness Regulation form it [i.e. the procedure] is done, and then he shall sign it.
Article 28 (Amendment: 27/7/1970 - Article 1315/1)
The persons whose final drafts are made shall be divided into two categories:1) Those who are suitable for military service,
2) Those who are unsuitable for military service
Those who are unsuitable for military service shall not be made soldiers.
The travel, food and accommodation expenses of those whose referral to a hospital for health committee examination is considered by a draft committee to be necessary in order for their suitability or otherwise for military service to be ascertained shall be met by the state in accordance with the provisions of a regulation that is to be established.
Article 29
Those who are healthy and those who are disabled, but seem to be capable of completing their military service, shall each draw lots to receive an individual number. The order in which they are drafted shall be made according to these numbers.Those who are drafted without drawing numbers by lot shall be drafted before the person who has drawn the first number.
Article 30
Of those whose names have been read out under the provisions of Article 27, those to be recruited who are outside the sub-province and about whom no information as to their fitness and degree of education is forthcoming by the end of the final military draft and process of drawing numbers by lot and about whom such information could not be sought at their current residence because the board or council of elders of the villages or districts do not know where they are, and those who are within the sub-province or in a foreign country but who have failed to report to a military council or embassy or consulate or report their reasons for non-arrival in accordance with Article 26, shall be considered to be draft evaders, and their names shall be entered in their appropriate records and also given to the highest administrative officers of other localities in order to apprehend them; and those who are apprehended shall be subject to the procedures set out in the articles on penalties. The level of responseto be taken on the basis of these records shall be reviewed by military service branch offices each year and necessary action shall be taken.Postponement to the Following Year
Article 35 (Amendment: 20/11/1935 - Article 2850/1)
The procedures and medical examinations to be carried out for those who during the final draft are found for the reasons set out below to be unable to do their military service shall be postponed to the following year:A) Those who are not sufficiently physically developed to be of use to the military;
B) Those who, as a result of a medical examination conducted, are found to suffer an illness or malady which will be cured by treatment or through the passage of time, and those who are imprisoned or detained; (But those about whom it is understood will be cured, or whose term of imprisonment will end, by the time of call-up set out in this law, shall not be left to the following year but shall be made soldiers in accordance with their physical capabilities).
C) Those who are understood to be studying in a military school,or middle school, or high school, or higher educational institution where attendance is mandatory by laws and regulations or in a university or a vocational school or in a private foreign school or school abroad whose equivalence to the schools stated above has been approved by the Ministry of National Education (Postponement for such persons shall continue until they reach the age of 29 at the latest. Those who have not completed their education by that age or those who fail to pass their classes [i.e. class examinations] for two consecutive years, or those who enroll in another higher education institute or join a branch of specialisation, or those who enroll in another faculty after have already graduated from one, shall not be left to the following year, but shall be made soldiers immediately. Provided that the said students continue their studies regularly, their enrollment in such work activities as the civil service, other obligations, art, trade, or agriculture after school hours shall not hinder their being left to the following year).
Any person who has finished middle school or high school and who has not had time to be accepted by a higher college at the time of the final draft shall have their draft postponed to the following year if they can show the necessary documents.
Those students who would [normally] be left until the following year until [i.e. provided they are not at] the age of 29 shall, in case of necessity and need in mobilization or war, shall be made soldiers in order of date of birth.
(Annex paragraph: 12/7/1941-4092/1; amendment: 9/5/1967-Article 865/1; Abolished 27/7/1970- Article 1315/3)
D) The son of a father or a widowed mother having two sons who have reached military [eligibility] age, of whom the other is in the army, shall not be conscripted until his brother has completed his active military service.
Any other sons who have reached military [eligibility] age of a father or a widowed mother having two or more sons, of whom two are in the army, shall not be transferred until one of his brothers has finished his active service (children under the age of fifteen or those too incapacitated to be able to contribute to the livelihood of the family shall not be taken into account).
The procedure for those covered by this paragraph for the postponement of transfer for those to be taken in to the army together in the time of call-up or transfer shall be undertaken by leaving whichever one the father, son or widowed mother wishes to be left.
The provisions of this paragraph shall be effective in times when there is no war.
E) (Annex: 17.2.1947-Article 5010/1; Amendment: 27/6/1984-Article 3031/2) The call-up and transfer of the persons to be conscripted who are set out below may be postponed until the end of the age of 33 by the Ministry of National Defence.
1) Public personnel employed in institutions covered by Law No. 160, dated 13 December 1960, the postponement of whose transfer is required due to the particular nature of their duties;
2) Those who are undergoing practical training, a higher degree, some specialisation or doctoral studies in Turkey or abroad at the state's or at their own expense;
Under the provisions to be set forth by the Ministry of National Defense, the procedures to postpone the transfer of the public personnel set out above who are undergoing specialisation, a higher degree or doctoral studies may be undertaken upon recommendation by the ministry to which they are linked or with which they are related; and in case of personnel employed by an institution that has no link or relationship with any ministry such as the Secretariat General of the Presidency, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, such postponements shall be affected upon recommendation by the head of the competent institution.
However those persons to be conscripted, about whom legal inquiries are initiated on the grounds of the provisions of either articles 86 or 89, shall not be subject to the postponement of transfer if they are not acquitted or a decision of not to prosecute is not passed on them.
The position concerning any person whose call-up or transfer has been postponed and who leaves his job, where that job was the reason for the postponement, shall be notified to the Ministry of National Defence within two months by the authority that recommended his postponement. The procedures taken for the postponement of drafting shall be cancelled by the Ministry of NationalDefense.
F) (Annex: 17/5/1961- Article 303/1) Of the graduates of higher education, those who, after completing their particular specialisation, bring about an innovation or development at global level in the field of science in original research in which they are engaged in this country or abroad, and the scientific establishment in which they work attests to this fact and issues a request, may be exempted from call-up and transfer to military service until they reach the age of 36.
G) (Annex: 27/4/1976 -article 1983/1; Amendment: 21/5/1992-article 3802/4) Where the person to be conscripted is residing in a foreign country in the capacity of worker, employer, craftsman or a member of a profession with a residence or work permit and applies to the applicable Turkish consulate with documents demonstrating his position; all of his military procedures such as final draft, call-up and transfer may be postponed by the Ministry of National Defence until he reaches the age of 38, provided that such an application is repeated every two years.
Transfer to military service shall be conducted for those who are understood not to have the conditions for postponement, those whose reasons for postponement are no longer valid, and those who of their own accord renounce their postponement.
Article 36 (Amendment: 16/4/1987-Article 3358/7)
Those who are left to the following year may be transferred to the military that [i.e. in the same] year before their period of postponement has expired, at their own request, or if the reasons for postponement to the following year no longer applyThe call-up and drafting into military service of any person, whom it has been decided should be taken into the military, and who has finished his high school or equivalent education in the year of the final draft, but who has failed to enter higher college in this country or abroad in the same year, may be postponed for two years, if he requests this.
Any person graduating from a higher college giving three years or less of education or leaving higher school before being able to graduate, and about whom it has been decided to take him into the military, may be granted one year's postponement in call-up and drafting into military service if he wishes to continue his education.
A decision concerning any person whose situation is set out in the second and third paragraphs shall be changed by administrative committees if the military council is not in session, to the effect that he be left to the following year, if he presents the necessary documents attesting to his having joined an institution of higher education (a higher school) until the last day of the month of December in the following year.
The situation of any of those who have been left [out of conscription until the following year] and who have graduated or severed their links with their schools for various reasons shall be reported by the faculty or higher college to the military service branch offices where they are registered, within two months.
Article 37
Of the feeble and incapacitated persons mentioned in paragraphs A and B of Article 35, those whose feebleness or incapacity that entitles them to postponements of draft or conscription for one-year-periods extends for five years, shall be invalided out of military service by the military council to be convened in the fifth year. Only when there is no war shall military councils shall leave [the conscription of] persons to the following year and subject them in this way to medical examinations. During war time, there shall be no requirement to convene military councils and the lapse of four years shall not be required; the Ministry of National Defence may [at any time] order that they be examined and that the healthy and disabledbe sent to the army.Those to be discharged after being found to be totally unfit forthe military
Article 41 (Amendment 27/7/1970-Article 1315/1)
Of those persons not suitable for military duty, those about whom the military authorities deem it necessary shall be referredto a military hospital. Those who are found to be suitable for military service as a result of medical examinations conducted again by the military hospital health committees shall be made soldiers.Article 44
As well as informing local governments of the orders to assemble so that the announcement can be made, the military service branch offices shall draw up two copies of a form with the name of the person to be recruited, for those with numbers and those without, those who are healthy and those who are disabled, (those to do full service and those on short term), according to their village and district, and according to the numbers they have drawn by lots, and below the form, they shall indicate in a letter on which day the person on the form who is called up must be present at the branch office centre, they shall stamp it with an official seal and shall send it to the highest administrative officer in the locality.Article 45
The administrative officer shall send one [copy of the] form by way of the police and Gendarmerie to the village or district council or board of elders to order to inform the person called up himself as to which day he should be present at the branch office centre, or his father, sibling or other such relatives if he is not present in the village or district. The administrative officer shall have the other [copy] signed or sealed by the council of elders to show that they have received the form and then shall return it to the military service branch office. Wherever they are located, those called up to the military shall be considered to have been called up by means of the announcements made at the locality where they are resident, in accordance with this article and with Article 43.Article 51
During the draft and military assembly period,the Military Service Branch Offices shall be obliged to conduct the same procedures on foreigners that they conduct on their own recruits and to inform the Branch Offices of the results.Article 97 (Amendment: 20/11/1935-Article 2850/1)
Recruits escaping from their unitsor institutions shall be dealt with in accordance with [the provisions of] the Military Criminal Code that concern them.Article 98 (Amendment: 20/11/1935-Article 2850/1)
Those who commit fraud to evade part or all of their military service and their accomplices shall be delivered up to military courts.Cash substitute to reduce the period of active service
Article 109
No cash substitute shall be received from those who are to be reserve officers according to the special [provisions] of the law.Article 110
During mobilization there shall not be any cash substitute.Annex Article 1-(Annex: 20/3/1980- Article 2299/1; Amendment: 21/5/1992- Article 3802/5)
Those conscripts who are subject to Military Service Law No. 1111 and the Reserve Officers and Reserve Military PersonnelLaw No. 1076, who have effectively been a foreign country for the past three yearswith residence or work permission with worker or employer statusor performing a profession or skill, shall, by applying to a military service branch office through the Turkishconsulate to which they are subject with documents that serve to prove their situation, be subject to one month's basic training on condition that they pay shall be considered to have completed their active military service on condition that they be subject to one month's basic training and pay 10,000 deutsche marks or the equivalent in [one of] other currencies to be fixed in the regulations from the date of their applications until the end of the year in which they shall reach the age of 38. Those who apply at the age of 38 shall be required to pay the whole amount at one time in foreign currency at the time of application. Those applying before reaching the age of 38 shall pay the whole of the said amount at the time of application, although they may also pay one quarter of the amount at the time of application and the rest by the end of the year in which they reach the age of 38.The Council of Ministers shall be empowered to reduce the specified amount of foreign exchange by half or increase it by as much as double. The amount of payments to be made in currencies other than deutsche marks shall be determined by the Ministry of National Defence on the basis of the cross-currency exchange rates prevailing at the beginning of each year.
Of those conscripts whose applications to make use of the foreign currency [alternative option] for military service have been accepted, those who are [later] understood not to meet the required conditions, those not paying timely the amounts of the foreign country's currency that must be paid in conformity with the period set out in the regulations, those who fail to complete their mandatory basic training by the end of the prescribed age limit, those whose salaries or wages are transferred from within Turkey, those who are sent to foreign countries on official duties, those who spend more than one half of each calendar year in Turkey during the time of their conscription in order to benefit from the foreign currency [alternative option] of military service, those who have moved back to Turkey permanently or who renounce [such a privilege] voluntarily, and those who have been determined to be unfit for military service, shall be withdrawn from the scope of the foreign currency [alternative option] of decreased military service by the Ministry Of National Defence, and they shall be subjected to military action as is appropriate for their situation.
The foreign currency paid by the conscripts shall be returned to them to a bank account within Turkey specified by them, in Turkish currency, at the exchange rate prevailing on the date when it is repaid:
-immediately after they have completed their military service in the status to which they are subject if they have been withdrawn from the scope of the foreign currency [alternative option of] military service, and
- to their proxies or legal heirs if they during the course of their basic military training or before that, or if they become unsuitable for military service.
The sum shall not be repaid to those who die or become unsuitable for military service after they have completed their basic military service training or to those who renounce [their privilege] after fulfilling their conscription.
In the event of war or a situation arising that may make war necessary, the principles to be applied as to taking under arms conscripts governed by this law so that they may fulfill their military service shall be set out by the Council of Ministers.
Annex Article 3-(Annex 20/3/1980- Article 2299/1; Amendment: 21/5/1992- Article 3802/5)
According to the principles set out in this law, the conditions set out in this law applicable to the conscripts who may or may not make use of the foreign currency [alternative option] of military service, payment transactions, utilisation of the collected foreign exchange, call-up, transfer, education, leave, health, personal rights, temporary and final procedure of discharge, return of payments, services accounts, call-up, states of emergency, investigations conducted on the accuracy of the information declared, and documentation, and the principles of the procedures adopted to inspect the activities carried out in Turkey or abroad, and all other procedures shall be arranged by regulations to be published by the Council ofMinisters.[1] Regular service period for recruits serving in land,sea, and air forces and the general command of the Gendarmerie was reduced to 15 months by a decree of the Council of Ministers dated 11//7/1992 No. 92/3272 which was valid as from 10/9/1992. The said period was later increased to 18 months by a decree of the Council of Ministers dated 25/12/1994 No. 94/6340 which became effective as from 6.1.1995.