Aytaç Yalman (29 July 1940 – 15 March 2020) was a Turkish general.

Biography

He was the Commander of the Turkish Army (2002–2004) and previously General Commander of the Gendarmerie of Turkey (2000–2002). He was commissioned in an

Artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

unit fielding

M114 155 mm howitzer The M114 is a towed howitzer developed and used by the United States Army. It was first produced in 1942 as a medium artillery piece under the designation of 155 mm Howitzer M1. It saw service with the US Army during World War II, the Korean ...

s, and for the rest of his career below the rank of Colonel, he served in and commanded

MGR-1 Honest John The MGR-1 Honest John rocket was the first nuclear-capable surface-to-surface rocket in the United States arsenal.The first nuclear-authorized ''guided'' missile was the MGM-5 Corporal. Originally designated Artillery Rocket XM31, the first un ...

Ballistic Missile units. He served as a Gun Position Officer as well as a Fire Direction Officer in a Surface-to-Surface Tactical Ballistic Missile Regiment in the 1970s. Then he served in the

Aegean Army The Aegean Army or Fourth Army is one of the four main formations of the Turkish Army. It covers the entire west coast of the Anatolia peninsula and has its headquarters in İzmir. It was organised in the 1970s in response to political tensions ...

and

Turkish military forces in Northern Cyprus The Cyprus Turkish Peace Force Command ( tr, Kıbrıs Türk Barış Kuvvetleri Komutanlığı) is the Turkish garrison in Cyprus. In 1974 Turkish troops invaded Cyprus following a Greek Cypriot coup d'état (organized and supported by the Gr ...

in the early 1980s. He later commanded an Infantry Division. In 1998, he was promoted to the rank of General and was appointed the Commander of the Second Army. In the same year, he represented Turkey at the Adana Agreement, which regulated the Turkey-Syria relations. Later on, he was appointed the Commander of the

Gendarmerie General Command The Gendarmerie General Command ( tr, Jandarma Genel Komutanlığı) is the national Gendarmerie force of the Republic of Turkey. It is a service branch of the Turkish Ministry of Interior responsible for the maintenance of the public order in a ...

on 24 August 2000, and the

Turkish Land Forces The Turkish Land Forces ( tr, Türk Kara Kuvvetleri), or Turkish Army (Turkish: ), is the main branch of the Turkish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The army was formed on November 8, 1920, after the collapse of the ...

on 24 August 2002, respectively. He retired in 2004 due to the army's age limit. According to General

Levent Ersöz Levent Ersöz (born 19 April 1954) is a former Turkey brigadier general in the Turkish Gendarmerie, who was head of the Gendarmerie's JITEM intelligence department. He was considered a key defendant in the Ergenekon trials, and on 5 August 2013 w ...

, it was Yalman who informed Chief of the General Staff

Hilmi Özkök General Hilmi Özkök (born 1940 in Turgutlu, Manisa Province) was the 24th Chief of the General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces. He took up that post on August 28, 2002, and served until August 30, 2006, when he retired and was succeeded by Ge ...

of key military figures' membership of

Ergenekon Ergenekon (sometimes spelled ''Ergeneqon'', mn, Эргүнэ хун, Ergüne khun) is a founding myth of Turkic and Mongolic peoples.

. In 2012, Yalman talked about his role in preventing the Sledgehammer (coup plan), "Sledgehammer" coup plan in 2003. In 2008, Yalman wrote the

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

for "Şehitler Oratoryosu" (Oratorio for the Martyred). Yalman died from complications of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

on 15 March 2020, aged 79, three weeks after he had been in Iran, where the disease was prevalent.

Positions held

*Command Post Officer for

platoon 1961–62 *Gun Position Officer for

platoon 1962–63 *Assistant Fire Direction Officer for M114 155mm howitzer company 1963–64 *Company second-in-command of Infantry Rifle Company (mandatory 6 month infantry attachment) 1964 *Battery Captain (BK) for

Battery 1964–1966 *Gun Position Officer for

Ballistic Missile platoon 1966–68 *Assistant Fire Direction Officer for

Ballistic Missile battery 1968–1970 *Fire Direction Officer for

Ballistic Missile battery 1970–71 *Battery Commander of M114 155mm howitzer Battery 1971–73 *Battery Commander of

Ballistic Missile Battery 1973–1975 *Executive Officer (XO) of Gendarmerie Borderguards' Battalion (on lien) 1975–77 *Executive Officer (XO) of

Tactical Ballistic Missile Regiment 1977–80 *Commander of

Ballistic Missile Regiment 1980–1983 *Deputy Instructor in Faculty of Rocketry & Missiles, TSK School of Artillery 1983–1985 *Commander of Field Artillery Brigade, 2nd Corps 1985–1988 *Executive Officer (XO) of 39th Infantry Division 1988–1990 *Commander of 28th Infantry Division 1990–1993 *Chief Staff Officer, 5th Corps (Tekirdag) 1993–1995 *Chief Staff Officer (Heavy Firepower) in General Staff HQ 1995–1996 *Commander, 9th Corps (Elazig), 1996–1998 *Commander of Second Army 1998–2000 *Commander of

2000–2002 *Commander of

2002–2004

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yalman, Aytac 1940 births 2020 deaths Commanders of the Second Army of Turkey Commanders of the Turkish Land Forces General Commanders of the Gendarmerie of Turkey Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey Turkish Army generals