ANKARA
The military campaign against Daesh and Kurdish militants has seen a spike in conscripts coming forward to join Turkey’s armed forces, the Turkish General Staff said on Friday.
“So many Turkish citizens applied for enrollment in the armed services to fight against terrorism as a result of the terrorist attacks in recent days,” the General Staff said in a statement on its website.
Although the military did not disclose how many fresh volunteers had come forward, the armed forces thanked “our noble nation's heroic… sons”.
Although conscription is obligatory for men in Turkey, many seek to defer military service or, if they have worked abroad for a specific period, avoid it altogether by paying a fee.
Since July 20, when 32 activists were killed in a bomb blast in Suruc, Sanliurfa province, Turkey’s military has increased operations against Daesh and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey as well as Syria and Iraq.
The bomb blast has been widely attributed to Daesh but most attacks on security forces - that have resulted in around 20 deaths - have been blamed on the PKK, which is designated a terrorist organization in Turkey as well as in the EU and U.S.
