In 1973 the Army, with headquarters at Erzincan, had the 8th Corps at Elazığ (including the 12th Infantry Division (Turkey), today 12th Mechanised Infantry Brigade at Ağrı[1]), the 9th Corps at Erzurum (including 9th Infantry Division at Sarıkamış (which was active to at least 1996), and the 11th Corps at Trabzon.

Following the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union, the General Staff decided to send 120,000 men of the Third Army to the border with Iraq.

Most of the armored, mechanized, and commando brigades are located in the central region in order to act rapidly into any scenario around Turkey's borders.

[2] Today, the army garrisons the Turkish borders with Armenia and Georgia.

Some 300 men from the Third Army were sent to serve alongside the United Nations troops in Somalia (UNITAF/UNOSOM II).