Ümit Dündar (born 2 October 1955) is a Turkish general who was temporarily Chief 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 rank, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commanding officer, commander of a ...

of the

Turkish Armed Forces The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF; , TSK) are the armed forces, military forces of the Turkey, Republic of Turkey. The TAF consist of the Turkish Army, Land Forces, the Turkish Navy, Naval Forces and the Turkish Air Force, Air Forces. The Chief of ...

while Hulusi Akar was being held hostage by coup forces during the

2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt In the evening of 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 ...

Career

He graduated from Kuleli Military High School in 1972, from the

Turkish Military Academy The Turkish Military Academy () or as it is known historically and popularly Harbiye is a four-year co-educational military academy and part of the National Defense University (Turkey), National Defence University. It is located in the cent ...

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 an 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 ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

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 acting Chief of the Turkish General Staff 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. Following the coup he was promoted to the Deputy Chief of General Staff. 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 who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

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