Editing Turkish Armed Forces (section)

=== World War II ===
{{see also|Second Cairo Conference}}

Turkey remained neutral until the final stages of [[World War II]]. In the initial stage of World War II, Turkey signed a treaty of mutual assistance with Great Britain and France.<ref>See Murat Metin Hakki, "[http://www.ucc.ie/chronicon/3/hakkfra.html Surviving the Pressure of the Superpowers: An Analysis of Turkish Neutrality During the Second World War] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303233509/http://www.ucc.ie/chronicon/3/hakkfra.html |date=3 March 2016 }}", ''Chronicon'' 3 (1999–2007) 44–62, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University, {{ISSN|1393-5259}}</ref> But after the [[Battle of France|fall of France]], the Turkish government tried to maintain an equal distance with both the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] and the [[Axis Powers|Axis]]. Following [[Nazi Germany]]'s occupation of the [[Balkans]], upon which the Axis-controlled territory in [[Thrace]] and the eastern islands of the [[Aegean Sea]] bordered Turkey, the Turkish government signed a Treaty of Friendship and Non-Aggression with Germany on 18 June 1941.

After the [[German invasion of the Soviet Union]], the Turkish government sent a military delegation of observers under Lieutenant General Ali Fuat Erden to Germany and the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]].<ref>[[Hüseyin Hüsnü Emir Erkilet]], ''Şark cephesinde gördüklerim'', Hilmi Kitabevi, 1943.</ref> Following the German retreat from the [[Caucasus]], the Turkish government then moved closer to the Allies and [[Winston Churchill]] secretly met with [[İsmet İnönü]] at the [[Adana Conference]] in Yenice Train Station in southern Turkey on 30 January 1943, with the intent of persuading Turkey to join the war on the side of the Allies. A few days before the start of [[Operation Zitadelle]] in July 1943, the Turkish government sent a military delegation under General Cemil Cahit Toydemir to Russia and observed the exercises of the [[503rd Heavy Panzer Battalion]] and its equipment.<ref>Johannes Glasneck, Inge Kircheisen, ''Türkei und Afghanistan'', Dt. V. d. Wissenschaften, 1968, [https://books.google.com/books?id=4U_RAAAAMAAJ&q=Toydemir+1943+Kursk p. 139.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160502051054/https://books.google.com/books?id=4U_RAAAAMAAJ&q=Toydemir+1943+Kursk&dq=Toydemir+1943+Kursk&hl=tr&ei=acL9TMr3G9HzcYzZuKMG&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAA |date=2 May 2016 }}</ref> But after the failure of Operation Zitadelle, the Turkish government participated in the [[Second Cairo Conference]] in December 1943, where [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], Churchill and İnönü reached an agreement on issues regarding Turkey's possible contribution to the Allies. On 23 February 1945, Turkey joined the Allies by declaring war against Germany and [[Empire of Japan|Japan]], after it was announced at the [[Yalta Conference]] that only the states which were formally at war with Germany and Japan by 1 March 1945 would be admitted to the [[United Nations]].<ref>Mustafa Aydın, SAM, "Turkish Foreign Policy: Framework and Analysis", Center for Strategic Research, 2004, p. 47.</ref>