Police Special Operation Department

The Police Special Operations Department (Turkish: Polis Özel Harekât Dairesi) or Police Special Action^[1] (Turkish: Polis Özel Harekât), abbreviated as PÖH, is a police tactical unit of the General Directorate of Security in Turkey.

The PÖH was founded in 1983^[2] as "Special Operations Office" (Turkish: Özel Harekat Şube Müdürlüğü), under the command of Department of Public Security.

In larger cities like Ankara, Istanbul, and İzmir, "Special Operations Group Authorities "(Turkish: Özel Harekat Grup Amirlikleri) were organized in the same year.

As a result of changing conditions, in 1987, the office was transferred to the Anti-Terrorism and Operations Department under the name "Special Operations Branch" (Turkish: Özel Harekat Şubesi).

In 1993, the Special Operations Branch was promoted to a department and gained its current structuring.^[3]

İbrahim Şahin was head of the Department until being forced to resign in 1996 over the Susurluk scandal. Ayhan Çarkın was a notable member of the department in the 1990s.

The force consists of 22,000 personnel, more than a thousand of whom are women.^[4]

It is also deployed as part of the Turkish occupation of northern Syria.^[5]

To qualify for PÖH, an applicant must:

• Run the 2500m designated area with a backpack weighing 10 kg, under 15 minutes
• Have 50% minimum accuracy in pistol and rifle shooting
• Swim 150 m without stopping
• Be between ages 18 and 32
• Have graduated from police high school or university

In addition, a training simulation called TAKSİS is conducted by TÜBİTAK.^[6]

After 6 months of training, the applicant will receive a certificate officially identifying himself as an operator of PÖH.^[7]

Police Special Operation Department is one of a handful of security forces in the world which employs active front line female squad members in combat operations.^[8]

• Otokar Akrep^[25]
• Otokar Cobra
• Nurol Ejder
• BMC Kirpi

• T129 ATAK^[26]