Before the outbreak of World War I and as a result of the Balkan wars of 1912-1913, Turkish troops underwent considerable changes, which also affected artillery to a large extent. As in the case of small arms, also in the case of guns, the main country from which the equipment was imported was Kaiser Germany. Before 1914, Turkey purchased the 75mm Krupp M03 L / 30 field guns from Germany. They were assembled into batteries with 4 cannons each. Each Turkish infantry division had six such batteries at its disposal, but the actual state often differed from the full-time position. It is worth noting that Turkey purchased around 650 such guns before 1914, many of which, however, were lost in the course of the Balkan wars. Already during the Great War, the German 77 mm Krupp M96 L / 27 guns, the standard Kaiser field cannon, and the Rheinmetall M16 L / 35 gun of the same caliber, were delivered to Turkey. It is worth adding that as a result of the losses incurred in 1912-1913, the Turkish army often used older types of guns, as well as captured British or Russian equipment.
Even before the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, the command of the Turkish army saw the need to purchase modern machine guns for their troops. Considering the very good diplomatic relations with Germany, as well as the significant arms purchases made in this country by Istanbul, it is not surprising that the choice fell on the export version of the MG08 machine gun called the 7.65 mm MG09 machine gun. This weapon was already in service with the Turkish infantry during the Balkan wars in 1912-1913. Unfortunately, many of its copies were lost in the course of these conflicts. The preserved specimens were used, among others, during the fights on the Gallipolli (1915-1916). However, already during World War I, standard MG08 machine guns were obtained from Germany, which were used in combat, among others, in the course of fighting in Sinai and in Palestine. It is also worth adding that the Turkish army was also equipped with other machine guns, including the Schwarzlose MG or the Bergmann MG15 machine gun.