Amphibious Marine Brigade (Turkish Armed Forces)

Amphibious Marine Infantry Brigade
Active	1966[1]–Present
Country	Turkey
Allegiance	Turkish Armed Forces
Branch	Turkish Naval Forces
Type	Naval infantry
Role	Amphibious Assault Disaster relief
Size	4,500
Garrison/HQ	Foça, İzmir
Engagements	Turkey-PKK conflict[1] Albanian Rebellion of 1997[2] KFOR[1] ISAF[1]
Insignia
Abbreviation	AMFİBİ

The Amphibious Marine Brigade (Turkish: Amfibi Deniz Piyade Tugayı), also known as Amphibious Commando (Turkish: Amfibi Komando), is the marine corps unit of the Turkish Naval Forces which consists 4,500 men based in Foça near İzmir, three amphibious battalions, an MBT battalion, an artillery battalion, a support battalion and other company-sized units.^[3][4]

History

The modern history of Turkish Marine Brigade, under the command of the Turkish Amphibious Group, began in 1966 with the formation of Amphibious Marine Infantry Brigade Command's first Amphibious Landing Forces, constituting the 1st Marine Infantry Battalion, was formed with Vice Admiral Kemal KAYACAN's encouragement on 15 September 1966 at the Garrison of Golcuk. The Forces Headquarters was established in Mersin in April 1971. The 2nd Amphibious Marine Infantry Battalion was founded in 1973, and the headquarters of the Amphibious Marine Infantry Regiment was constituted on 18 April 1974, completed prior to the Invasion of Cyprus.^[2]

The Amphibious Marine Infantry Regiment operated on July 20, 1974, during intervention to Cyprus by sea, secured the beachhead and contributed to significant success. Amphibious Marine Infantry Division also participated in the Second Peace Operation, with the success of given tasks fulfilled. Due to the success in Cyprus Peace Operation, on November 15, 1983, Chief of the General Staff awarded the Gold "Outstanding courage and Self-sacrifice" medal.^[1]

After the Peace Operation in Cyprus in 1974, the 3rd Naval Infantry Battalion, the Amphibious Support Battalion, was formed in 1979 in Izmir. This completed the organization of the unit at the regimental level. In 1980, the 3rd Amphibious Marine Infantry Battalion temporarily deployed to Mersin to complete martial law executive tasks. In the period 1985-1992 many domestic and overseas drills were conducted, the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean deterrence tasks were performed successfully.^[1]

Equipment

Handguns

• H&K Mark 23

Submachine Guns

• HK MP5

Assault Rifles

• HK 33

Machine Guns

• FN Minimi
• Rheinmetall MG-3

Sniper Rifles

• SIG Sauer SSG 3000
• Barrett M82A1

Rockets

• RPG 7

IFV's and APC's

• M113

Main Battle Tanks

• M48A5T2

Gallery

• 

  Turkish marine personnel on the Italian island of Sardinia during the Destined Glory 2005 (Loyal Midas) military exercise.

• 

  Turkish marines aboard USS Nassau (LHA-4) stand by to conduct maritime interdiction operations, as part of exercise Phoenix Express 2007.

• 

  Amphibious Marines perform fast-rope exercises from a U.S. Navy MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter during exercise Phoenix Express in 2009.

References

1. "Amphibious Marine Infantry Brigade Command/Amfibi Deniz Piyade Tugay Komutanligi/Amfibi Deniz Piyade". Global Security. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
2. "Marine Badges :: Turkey". Retrieved 17 January 2015.
3. "Hata Sayfası". Retrieved 17 January 2015.
4. "Amfibi deniz piyadeleri". Retrieved 17 January 2015.