Turkey sits on top of the only passage between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, which makes it the piece great powers would rather have on their side than have to fight. But the country behind that strategic position is still young and fragile: the 
Disorganized Armed Forces spirit sums up the real state of an army that hasn't had time to mature yet.
Historical Context
The Ottoman Empire came out of the First World War defeated, facing the partition of its territory laid out in the Treaty of Sèvres. The response was the Turkish War of Independence, which expelled the occupying armies and led to the republic being proclaimed in 1923 under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The game starts in 1936 with Atatürk still leading the country, heading a young republic built on the Kemalist reforms of secularization and modernization.
What Changed with Graveyard of Empires
The Country Pack Graveyard of Empires (2025) expanded Turkey's focus tree and added the shared Saadabad Pact branch with 
Afghanistan, Iraq, and 
Iran. Without this DLC, Turkey keeps a simpler tree and can only form the Saadabad Pact through the basic diplomatic route, without the shared development the expansion introduced.
National Spirits at Start
Turkey starts with five national spirits that portray a young state still settling its institutions, its army, and its industry.
Kemalist Officers
−10% army experience gain, +5% stability, +10% max planning — the officer corps, loyal guardian of Kemalist values.
Sectarian Woes
−15% stability, −15% war support — internal ideological, religious, and ethnic divisions still unresolved.
Disorganized Armed Forces
−15% fleet coordination, −10% division speed, −8% organization, +15% air accidents, −15% war support, +25% training time.
Widespread Illiteracy
−5% political power gain, −5% stability, +5% research speed — a country still in the middle of a literacy drive.
Birinci Beş Yıllık Sanayi Planı
+5% civilian factory construction speed, +5% construction tech research — modeled after the Soviet Five-Year Plans; expires on April 17, 1938.
A Young Army, an Even Younger State
The Disorganized Armed Forces spirit is by far the biggest starting military drag: it penalizes nearly everything that can be penalized — speed, organization, naval coordination, air accidents, training time — because the Turkish armed forces are, like the country itself, still young. The good news is Turkey has years of guaranteed peace to reverse it before any military decision becomes urgent.
The Focus Tree Branches
Turkey's tree is organized around several main blocks:
The Saadabad Pact — a joint branch with Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran that develops shared industrial and military bonuses.
The Montreux Convention — the central political branch, which opens into several sub-branches depending on the country's direction.
Assess Our Future — the historical armed-neutrality branch: non-aggression pacts with Middle Eastern neighbors and the peaceful acquisition of Hatay.
Reconfigure Turkish Foreign Policy — establishes formal relations with 
the Allies, the 
Axis, or the 
Comintern.
Continue to Prioritize Balkan Integrity — alliances with Balkan nations and faction bonuses.
Learning From the Great War / 
Hava Okulu — armed forces research bonuses and fort construction speed.
This guide doesn't go into the detail of the tree's more extreme political routes — rehabilitating the Kadro Movement toward fascism or communism, or restoring the Ottoman Sultanate — they're playthrough paths that will be covered in separate content later.
Armed Neutrality or Picking a Side
The central decision pits Assess Our Future — the historical armed-neutrality route, which consolidates Turkey's position in the Middle East without committing to either European side — against Reconfigure Turkish Foreign Policy, which breaks that neutrality to formally align with the Allies, the Axis, or the Comintern.
For a first playthrough, neutrality is the recommended route: Turkey rode out almost the entire real war without getting involved, cashing in that silence for diplomatic concessions from both sides. Reconfiguring foreign policy gives more room to intervene on your own terms once industry and army are ready, but requires actively managing the pressure both sides will put on the country.
Superior Firepower: with only 4 starting military factories, there's no industry to sustain armor, and its artillery and entrenchment fit a nation playing to defend its position, not break fronts.
Turkey in the Real War
If you're going to follow the historical script, what really matters isn't the exact dates but how you manage each step of that calculated neutrality. Here's what to do at each stage:
- Mutual aid pact with
France and the 
United Kingdom — sign it without hesitation: it gives you diplomatic leverage with the Allies without forcing you into war, so it's pure upside as long as you don't turn it into a real combat promise. - Non-aggression pact with
Germany — use the chromite trade to strengthen your economy, but don't let this pact drag you toward the Axis; it's a purely transactional relationship, not an alliance. - End of sales to Germany — cut the trade only once Allied pressure and incentives clearly outweigh what you gain from keeping it going; the exact timing is a diplomatic balancing act, not a fixed date you need to replicate.
- Break with the Axis — use this step to negotiate concrete concessions from the Allies before committing fully, don't give it away for free.
- Declaration of war on the Axis — only do it once it's a safe, purely symbolic gesture, with Allied victory already decided; the goal is securing yourself a seat at the postwar table, not risking troops in real combat.
See the diplomacy and factions guide to better understand the diplomatic pressure you'll get from both sides while staying neutral.
Common Mistakes
- Committing to a side too early and losing the value of neutrality without getting anything solid in return.
- Not touching industry or the army during the years of guaranteed peace — by the time you finally have to decide, you show up with a 1936 army to a 1941 war.
- Ignoring the Disorganized Armed Forces spirit and rushing into a war before fixing it with military modernization focuses.
- Watching only the Mediterranean powers and forgetting
the USSR — your position makes you everyone's neighbor.
Turkey's Achievements
Five achievements, almost all tied to the country's strategic position or its Ottoman past:
Hardly Anything Sèvres
As the Ottoman Empire, hold the capitals of France, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Japan.
I Captured the Bosporus...
As Turkey, subjugate both Greece and Bulgaria.
Nobody's Business but the Turks
Restore the Ottoman Sultanate.
One Nation Under Atatürk, Indivisible
As non-aligned Turkey, have zero negative state modifiers.
We're Putting the Band Back Together
As Turkey, be in a faction with Germany and Austria-Hungary.