Straddling two continents, Turkey has one of the most powerful armed forces in Europe or Asia.
Here's What You Need to Remember: Turkey is not, strictly speaking, a nuclear weapons state. However, the country’s status as a Cold War frontline state resulted in Ankara becoming the custodian of large numbers of American tactical nuclear weapons.
Straddling two continents, Turkey has one of the most powerful armed forces in Europe or Asia. Over four hundred thousand strong, Ankara’s armed forces are divided into the Army, Air Force, and Navy. A Special Forces Corps exists and is subordinate directly to the Turkish General Staff. The Turkish military formed a bulwark against the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War, facing Bulgarian, Romanian and Soviet forces that in wartime would drive south through Thrace and seize the Bosphorus Strait.