Oct 18 (Reuters) - The United States and other Western allies, as well as Iraq, have urged Turkey to refrain from military action in northern Iraq after Ankara's parliament gave permission on Wednesday for an attack on Kurdish rebels there. * SOME BACKGROUND: -- Ankara blames the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK or Kongra-Gel), which Washington and the EU also view as a terrorist group, for the deaths of more than 30,000 people since the group launched its armed campaign for an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984. -- Washington and Baghdad have so far failed to take action against the estimated 3,000 PKK guerrillas hiding in northern Iraq, and Turkish frustration has grown after clashes resumed. * MILITARY POWER: -- Turkey launched major incursions into northern Iraq in 1995 with 35,000 troops and in the second half of 1997 with tens of thousands of troops. * TURKEY'S ARMED FORCES: -- TOTALS: -- The armed forces are the 2nd largest standing force in NATO after the United States. -- The armed forces has 514,850 active people. Consisting of Army - 402,000, Navy - 52,750, Air Force - 60,100. Additionally, there is a paramilitary force of 102,200. Reservists are 378,700 over all the services. -- ARMY: -- The Chief of General Staff (General Yasar Buyukanit since August 2006, succeeding General Hilmi Ozkok) is appointed by the president as Commander of the Armed Forces and is responsible to the prime minister. -- Turkey is divided into four military sectors on the basis of strategic conditions of terrain, logistics, communications and the potential external threat. These sectors are assigned to four field armies, the first three of which would come under NATO command in the event of a NATO reinforced alert. -- The four field armies are headquartered in Turkey's largest city Istanbul; in Malatya in southeastern Anatolia with a defensive mission facing Syria, Iraq, and Iran; in Erzincan in eastern Anatolia covering the borders with Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan; and in Izmir on the Aegean coast, established in mid-1970s amid growing tensions with neighbouring Greece. * NAVY: -- The navy has among its fleet 13 submarines, 20 frigates, 21 fast patrol boats, 21 mine sweepers or hunters or layers, 52 various landing ships. * AIR FORCE: -- Turkish Air Forces have 19 combat squadrons, two reconnaissance squadrons, five training squadrons, six transportation squadrons, one tanker squadron, and eight surface to air missile (SAM) squadrons. These units are organized into two tactical air forces -- 1st TAF HQ in Eskisehir in western Turkey and 2nd TAF HQ in Diyarbakir in the southeast. Turkey has over 440 combat capable aircraft. Sources: Reuters/Military Balance 2006/Turkish Armed Forces/allaboutturkey.com
