Turkish citizens who have lived or worked abroad for at least three years can be exempt from military service in exchange for a certain fee in foreign currencies . Also , when the General Staff assesses that the military reserve exceeds the required amount , paid military service of one-month 's basic training is established by law as a stopgap measure , but has only been practiced in reality once so far , and only applied to men of a certain age ( born in or prior to 1973 ) . This was done in order to generate funds to recover from the aftermath of the 1999 İzmit earthquake , which took place in the highly industrialized Marmara region of the country , and had a considerable negative impact on the Turkish economy due to the severe damage it caused to a significant number of residential and industrial structures
1999 İzmit earthquake
1999 İzmit earthquake
Military service