Ümit Dündar (born 2 October 1955) is a Turkish general who was temporarily

Chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

of the

General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...

of the

Turkish Armed Forces The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF; tr, Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri, TSK) are the military forces of the Republic of Turkey. Turkish Armed Forces consist of the General Staff, the Land Forces, the Naval Forces and the Air Forces. The current Chi ...

while

Hulusi Akar Hulusi Akar (born 12 March 1952) is the current Turkish minister of defense and a former four-star Turkish Armed Forces general who served as the 29th chief of the Turkish General Staff. Akar also served as a brigade commander in various NATO e ...

was being held hostage by coup forces during the

2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt On 15 July 2016, a faction within the Turkish Armed Forces, organized as the Peace at Home Council, attempted a coup d'état against state institutions, including the government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. They attempted to seize cont ...

Career

He graduated from

Kuleli Military High School Kuleli Military High School was the oldest military high school in Turkey, located in Çengelköy, Istanbul, on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus strait. It was founded on September 21, 1845, by Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid I. After the 2016 Tur ...

in 1972, from the

Turkish Military Academy The Turkish Military Academy ( tr, Kara Harp Okulu) is a four-year co-educational military academy and part of the National Defence University. It is located in the center of Ankara, Turkey. Its mission is to develop cadets mentally and ph ...

in 1975, and from the Command of the Engineering School and Training Center in 1976. He graduated from the Army War College in 1985 and became a staff officer. After becoming a Operations Branch of the 3rd Army Command Operations Directorate and the Commander of the 5th Border Regiment. He was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in 2001. In this rank, he worked as the Head of Ministry of National Defense Construction Real Estate Department, National Defense Construction Real Estate and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

Infrastructure Department and 28th Peace Force Brigade Commander. He was promoted to the rank of major general in 2005. In this rank, he served as Chief of General Staff Engineering Department, Engineering School and Training Center, respectively, and in 2009 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and was appointed to the Commander of the 5th Corps. He was appointed to the Undersecretariat of the Ministry of National Defense in 2011. He was promoted to the rank of general in 2013 and was appointed Commander of the 3rd Army. He was appointed to the First Army Commander in 2015. After the 2016 military coup attempt, he was appointed as the Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces and took on this post for a while. On July 16, the night of the coup, he was connected to various television channels between 00:50 and 1:00 and stated that the coup attempt was not supported by the Turkish Armed Forces, and that this coup attempt was carried out by certain groups in the army. The governor of Istanbul stated that they were fighting against the coup with the police units and the ''First Army'' he commanded. With the decision of the Supreme Military Council held on 28 July 2016, the General Staff II. He was appointed as its president. On July 9, 2018, he was appointed as the Land Forces Commander with the decree approved by President

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the List of presidents of Turkey, 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as Lis ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dundar, Umit 1955 births Living people Turkish Army generals Chiefs of the Turkish General Staff People involved in the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt