Salih Zeki Çolak

This article deals with a Turkish general; for the Ottoman mathematician, see Salih Zeki .

Salih Zeki Çolak (2015)

Salih Zeki Çolak (born July 20, 1954 in Akçaabat , Trabzon Province ) is a Turkish general who has been Commander-in-Chief of the Land Forces (Türk Kara Kuvvetleri) since 2015 .

Life

Training to become an officer

After attending school, Çolak began officer training at the Army School ( Kara Harp Okulu ) , which he completed in 1974. After a one-year course at the Artillery and Missile School (Topçu ve Füze Okulu) , he found various uses between 1975 and 1986 as head of an artillery battery, leader of a training platoon at the Army School and as a lecturer in artillery tactics at the Artillery and Missile School . He then completed a course in the mountain troop command and in 1988 a staff officer course at the Army Academy (Kara Harp Akademisi) . He was then from 1988 to 1990 staff officer for operations and training of the 4th Infantry Division and completed a course at the Academy of Armed Forces (Silahlı Kuvvetler Akademisi) during this time .

Following Çolak was between 1990 and 1992 commander of the 1st Infantry Battalion, belonging to the 39th Infantry Division 49th Infantry Regiment and 1992 to 1995 program officer in the Staff Department financial planning of the General Staff . Subsequently, between 1995 and 1998 he was employed at the military mission to NATO in Brussels and the Western European Union (WEU) and was then commander of the 108th artillery regiment stationed in Malazgirt from 1998 to 2000 . After his return he was head of the advertising department in the press and public relations department of the general staff between 2000 and 2001.

Promotion to general and commander in chief of the land forces

On August 30, 2001, Çolak was promoted to Brigadier General (Tuğgeneral) and between 2001 and 2003 he took on the role of head of the Appeals Department at the Land Forces Headquarters, before he was commander of the 19th Infantry Brigade (19th Piyade Tugayı) from 2003 to 2005 . After his promotion to major general (Tümgeneral) on August 30, 2005, he became head of the personnel department at the headquarters of the land forces and then in 2006 general secretary of the general staff and finally commander of the military schools and the training command.

In 2009 Çolak was promoted to lieutenant general (co- general ) . As lieutenant general he was first commanding general of the 7th Corps (7th Kolordu) stationed in Yenişehir and then as the successor to Lieutenant General Bekir Kalyoncu from August 15, 2011 until his replacement by Lieutenant General İhsan Uyar on August 15, 2013 Chief of Staff of the Land Forces (Kara Kuvetleri Komutanlığı Kurmay Başkanlığı) .

After his promotion to general (orgeneral) , Çolak became the commander of the training and training command (Eğitim ve Doktrin Komutanlığı) in Ankara in 2013 . On August 25, 2014, he replaced General Ahmet Turmuş as commander-in-chief of the 1st Army (Birinci Ordu) stationed in the Selimiye barracks in Istanbul 's Üsküdar district and held this post until he was replaced by General Ümit Dündar on August 10, 2015 August 2015 he finally succeeded General Hulusi Akar as Commander in Chief of the Land Forces (Kara Kuvetleri Komutanı) .

Salih Zeki Çolak is married to Melek Çolak and has two children. In addition to Turkish, he also speaks English and French .

Web link

• Entry in Kim Kimdir? (Page access on June 24, 2016)