Ahmet Hurşit Tolon (born 3 August 1942) is a retired Turkish general who served as the Commander of the First Army of Turkey from 2004 to 2005. In August 2013 he was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment as part of the

Ergenekon trials The Ergenekon trials or the Ergenekon conspiracy, were a series of high-profile trials which took place in 2008–2016 in Turkey in which 275 people, including military officers, journalists and opposition lawmakers, all alleged members of Erge ...

Military career

He was promoted to brigadier general in 1989. As a brigadier-general he was Chief of General Staff General Secretariat and Commander 28 Motorised Infantry Brigade. In 1993 he was promoted to the rank of Major General. Chief of General Staff General Secretariat in this rank, he served as Vice Commander of the Gendarmerie Public Order Corps Commander and Deputy Commander 7th Corps. In 1997, he was promoted to lieutenant general. He was Commander 15th Corps and General Staff Logistics President while at this rank. Tolon is accused of establishing the ''National Strategies and Operations Department of Turkey'' ( TUSHAD) in 1993 on instructions from Ergenekon, while Tolon was serving as secretary-general of the General Staff of Turkey. Prosecutors allege that TUSHAD carried out the Zirve Publishing House massacre in 2007. TUSHAD is also said to have worked with the

Turkish Gendarmerie The Gendarmerie General Command () 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 areas that fall outside the jurisdi ...

JİTEM Jandarma İstihbarat ve Terörle Mücadele or Jandarma İstihbarat Teşkilatı (abbr. ''JİTEM'' or ''JİT''; English: "Gendarmerie Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism" or "Gendarmerie Intelligence Organization") is the intelligence department of ...

intelligence unit. The Zirve murders are claimed to be part of the "Cage Action Plan", which is being prosecuted in the Poyrazköy case of the Ergenekon trials. Today's Zaman, 24 June 2012
Clandestine military unit behind Zirve killings, indictment says
/ref> Tolon is said to have attended meetings of Semih Tufan Gülaltay's National Unity Party. Tolon graduated 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 1962 and the Kara Harp Akademisi in 1978.

References

1942 births Military personnel from Istanbul Turkish Army generals Living people Turkish Military Academy alumni People convicted in the Ergenekon trials Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Turkey {{Turkey-mil-bio-stub