Supermarine Spitfire. Asian Users, part six. The Spitfire in Turkey.

 

The Hava Müstesarligi (HM) which was the forerunner of the Turkish Air Force (TAF) operated the Supermarine Spitfire too. 
The HM wanted to reinforce their fighter force in the late 1930s as Europe approached to a new war, so they ordered 15 Spitfire Mk.Ia. 
However, Great Britain decided that they needed the Spitfires more than the Anatolian country would, so, eventually only two aircraft were shipped. In 1939, Poland set an order for some Spitfires and one machine was sent there via Bosphorus strait and Romania, however, when Germany invaded in September 1939, Romania forbade any arms traffic into Poland and the Spitfire was reshipped to Turkey. All three of them were assigned to the 42nd Fighter Squadron, based at Çorlu, in Tekirdag province, but by late 1940 they were grounded due to the lack of spare parts. However, in 1942 two machines were ferried to Egypt to serve with the Royal Air Force.
Two years later, in July 1944 thirty-nine Spitfire Mk.Vc Trop were supplied to the newly created Turkish Air Force. This shipment was followed by additional 71 Mk.Vc Trop, plus three PR.IX more in February 1945. The fighters served with the 5th Regiment while the PR.IV served with the High-Altitude Reconnaissance Squadron. 
After World War 2, the TAF sought to make the Spitfire the backbone of their fighter force, so an agreement was signed with Vickers to overhaul and maintain the Spitfires. Between January 1947 and February 1948 a total of 170 Spitfire Mk.IX were supplied to the TAF which served until 1954. 
Some more photo-reconnaissance Spitfires served with the TAF. One PR.XI is known to have been in service with the aforementioned High-Altitude Reconnaissance Squadron, however its exact date of arrival and deployment is unknown. In March 1947 this squadron was reinforced with four PR.XIX and served until the mid-1950s.

Sources:
1st https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Air_Force
2nd https://msomuseum.com/en/supermarine-spitfire/
3rd https://web.archive.org/web/20220128153130/http://www.tayyareci.com/digerucaklar/turkiye/1923ve50/spitfire.asp
4th Hellion & Co. - Europe @ war series 29 - Chasing the Soft Underbelly Turkey and the Second World War