Military presence

I have few hard statistics, but I have heard that up to 20% of Turkey`s land area is controlled one way or another by the military.  Turkey has one of the 5 largest forces in Nato.  Military service is mandatory for all Turkish men.  There are 3 large installations in our immediate area and every once in a while, you see their vehicles on the roads.  During a routine trip to Kesan to visit the supermarket (Kipa) and the electronics store (Teknosa), we were stopped at a stop light to let a large (the largest I have seen thus far) military convoy pass.  I firmly believe there were more than 50 units in the convoy which consisted of a wide selection of vehicles both wheeled and tracked and several heavy tanks.  The whole convoy was moving down the freeway with flagmen out stopping traffic so they could pass without so much as slowing down.

I think these guys were on their way back after delivering some pieces they didn`t get the street pads put on before the time the mission was to start.