What is the Office of Defence Cooperation Turkey?

Introduction

The Office of Defence Cooperation Turkey (ODC-T, Turkish: ABD Savunma İşbirliği Ofisi) to Turkey is a United States Security Assistance Organisation (SAO) to Turkey.

It was established in 1947 as the Joint American Military Mission for Aid to Turkey (JAMMAT), and renamed the Joint United States Military Mission for Aid to Turkey (JUSMMAT) in 1958. It became the ODC-T in 1994. After Turkey joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in 1952, JAMMAT became the largest of the United States European Commands (USEUCOM).

Brief History

After the British government declared on 21 February 1947 its inability to provide financial aid (though she would establish the Central Treaty Organisation a decade later), Turkey turned towards the US, who drew up the Truman Doctrine, pledging to “support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures”. $100 million was appropriated two months after the US Congress ratified the Truman Doctrine on 12 March 1947. This figure was raised to $233 million by 1950, after Turkey contributed a brigade of about 5,000 men to the United Nations forces in the Korean War. In August 1947, the Joint American Military Mission for Aid to Turkey (JAMMAT) was established in Ankara under the authority of the US ambassador.

On 05 October 1947, a delegation of senior Turkish military officials travelled to the United States to establish the military framework of the co-operation agreement.

After joining NATO on 18 February 1952, Turkey signed a Military Facilities Agreement on 23 June 1954, paving the way for a large scale US military presence. With a staff of 1200 by 1959, JAMMAT was the largest of the United States European Commands (USEUCOM), and also the world’s largest military assistance and advisory group by 1951. JAMMAT was renamed to Joint United States Military Mission for Aid to Turkey (JUSMMAT) in 1958, and the Office of Defence Cooperation Turkey (ODC-T) (Turkish: ABD Savunma İşbirliği Ofisi) on 01 May 1994.

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Defense_Cooperation_Turkey >; it is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA). You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the CC-BY-SA.

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