I'd like to see conscription into the army abolished. The age where large land forces were needed are over, a relic of the cold war era and usually are nothing more than a d*ck measuring contest.
In it's place every able bodied adult would register with provincial/regional militias possibly with some cooperation with the gendarmerie. Everyone residing in each province/region will be required to register with their local home militia. A basic course where the basics of local defence are taught to start with then regular but shorter courses throughout one's lifetime thereafter. These militias can cater their training towards the defence needs of each province/region, urban, plain, mountains etc. A country with a well trained and armed local defence forces will be impossible to invade.
The professional Army in Turkey can then concentrate its resources into more specialised units.
The army becoming an external armed force, and the local militia becoming the internal armed force.
The deployment of Turkish forces should be considered depending on Turkey's own interests. Turkish trade routes, political partners in the world, security threats etc. So increases military cooperation in the Balkans, the Black Sea region, Caspian region, North and East Africa, South and East Asia and of course the Middle East.
Turkey is building a base in Somalia, I would suggest also increase cooperation with Sudan. Being close to Egypt and on the Red Sea make it important. Wad Madani was one of the deepest outposts of the Ottomans in Africa. Also around the Halaib triangle there are border disputes, and not saying Turkey could reclaim them since they are in effect lawless, but staying close to the potential flashpoint on the Red Sea is important.
In the Maghreb, access to the Atlantic and western Med should require Turkey to work closer with Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. How much will depend on the political relationships with those countries, but each of them have large populations with Turkish and Ottoman ancestry, the Kuloglu's. Wikipedia says there are 10-30million of them. The potential to trade in these countries are huge, and closer cultural and political ties can be achieved. I would like to see a navy port established perhaps in Tunisia for the strategic importance of having a presence in the western med brings. Would require great diplomatic skills though.
In the Sahel, Mauritania seems like the best place to look towards.
The Balkans, Turkey should be cooperating more outside of Nato with the countries in the region. Not wanting to appear like a colonisation which would hamper any Turkish efforts so establishing joint training centres, joint bases with national armies of the region. With those willing too.
I'm suprised Turkey hasn't done more to work with Ukraine given the opportunities there are now that didn't exist in the past. I understand concern about Russia perceiving it as anti Russian or something, but Turkey should low key work with the Ukrainians outside the flashpoints in western Ukraine. In the Odessa region f.e.. Close to Moldova and the Gagauz, should things go south there one day, has an historical Turkish connection, (Odessa derives from Yedisan), and north of the Black Sea which would give Turkey more depth there.
Turkish bases outside of the Nato framework in Bosnia, perhaps Macedonia, Odessa and in Turkish Thrace would give Turkey greater depth in securing her interests in the region. I don't expect Greece, Bulgaria or even Romania to be happy about it let alone cooperate, but making these small low key deployments, building up over time would be more important than any posturing that only incites and ultimately forces u turns.
In the Middle East, you could say there are baby steps going on right now in Iraq. Syria, Iraq and Iran are vital for Turkish security and economic expansion. If the Turkish-Iraqi-Iranian cooperation works out in Iraq successfully, then it could create the groundwork for further mutually beneficial cooperation. And maybe I'm dreaming here, but a peaceful northern ME can create an economic region potentially worth hundreds of Billions of pounds. Of course there needs to be peace and stability to achieve it. Which requires military cooperation. Turkish efforts should focus here. In the past the military ignored the region focusing exclusively towards the West. This was a huge mistake. Huge Turkish populations in all 3 countries, huge economic actual and potential trade. Finding a workable foundation must be considered a priority for Turkey. I know Turkey will receive a lot of hate, lies and propaganda from the west as a consequence, but that's happening already so grin and bear it till they get used to it, and possibly benefit economically themselves too. You think Germany would give up the chance to export goods in a safer, economically growing Iraq? Of course not, so they will protest at first but in time come round.
In Azerbaijan Turkey should step up it's involvement even further. Yes Russia wont like it, and some western countries as well. But so long as Turkey stays out of Karabagh, although not necessarily the occupied areas surrounding Karabagh, there's not much they can do about it. Once of Azerbaijans fears was a future Russian invasion coming from the Plains from Tiblisi. Nothing to obstruct their way since the mountains are on either side of the Kur and the plains of Azerbaijan. A stronger Turkish presence and better cooperation between their militaries within Azerbaijan itself would make such a scenario harder to pull off. Also closer cooperation between Turkish specialised forces and their Azeri counterparts within the local area will help them in their own efforts to regain control over the whole of their country.
I would like to see more Turkish reach out in C. Asia, although not sure how realistic it would be. In Afghanistan there is a Turkish presence under Nato, not sure if Kabul would be open to Turkish deployments outside of Nato but Turkey should be looking at her own interests here too even as a part of Nato. Northern Afghanistan is culturally and historically important, and Turkey should focus there more within the Nato program, and perhaps look at other ways to help allies fight off the Taliban and ISIS threats that to kindred people.
With the ethnic cleansings of the Rohingya going on in Myanmar, Turkey should look towards establishing a military presence in Bangladesh. Maybe even work towards creating a military alliance with muslim states willing to work together on Myanmar since the West has cried but ignored it so far. Might seem a bit far fetched and i'm not confident in the political will of the worlds muslim states despite their rhetoric, but even working towards this would be a huge change in the status quo towards muslims in today's world. But it is necessary, Burma is a military dictatorship, the Rohingya are being cleansed, raped and murdered in their hundreds of thousands, there isn't a diplomatic solution to this other than flexing muscle. The military leaders in Burma would only then calm themselves down.
We can't have another muslim genocide, Bangladesh can't afford so many people in it's already overpopulated and sinking country. Doing nothing will lead to both of them happening.
Just some thoughts.
