Zahit Atakan

Zahit Atakan (* 1923 in Istanbul ; † December 9, 2013 in Heybeliada ) was a Turkish admiral who was last from 1983 to 1986 Commander in Chief of the Navy (Türk Deniz Kuvetleri) .

Life

Naval officer

After attending school, Atakan entered the naval school (Deniz Harp Okulu) on April 1, 1941 and graduated in 1943 as an ensign at sea (Asteğmen) . Subsequently, he found employment in the fleet command as an officer on various destroyers and submarines , but also as section chief and second officer . He was then commander of the TCG Oruçreis from 1955 to 1957 and in 1957 the commander of the submarine TCG II. İnönü (S-331) and, after completing his training as a staff officer at the Naval Academy (Deniz Harp Akademisi), between 1959 and 1961, commander of the U- Boat TCG I. İnönü (S 330) .

After other assignments he was commodore of the 2nd submarine flotilla between 1964 and 1965 and commander of the naval cadet institute (Deniz Lisesi) from 1967 to 1969 .

Promotion to admiral

After being promoted to flotilla admiral (Tuğamiral) in 1969, Atakan was first commander of the naval school and then from 1970 to 1971 commander of the naval units in the Black Sea (Karadeniz Bölge Komutanlığı) in Ereğli , which belong to the regional command north (Kuzey Deniz Saha Komutanlığı) . This was followed from 1971 to 1972 as a naval assistant to the head of the department for logistic planning and coordination in the General Staff of Turkey and from 1972 to 1973 as the commander of the naval units for the Bosphorus (İstanbul Boğaz Komutanlığı) in Anadolu Kavağı , which is also part of the regional command north belong.

In 1973 Atakan was promoted to Rear Admiral (Tümamiral) and at the same time took over the function of deputy head of the intelligence services department in the General Staff until 1974. He was then commander of the submarine squadron from 1974 to 1975, before he was head of the intelligence services department in the General Staff from 1976 to 1979 and as such was promoted to Vice Admiral (Koramiral) in 1977 . He then acted from 1979 to 1981 as Commander-in-Chief of the Regional Command North.

On August 30, 1981 Atakan was promoted to admiral (Oramiral) and then took over the function of commander-in-chief of the naval command (Donanma Komutanlığı) . On December 6, 1983, he finally succeeded Admiral Nejat Tümer as Commander-in-Chief of the Navy (Deniz Kuvetleri Komutanı) and remained in this position until August 22, 1986. He was then replaced by Admiral Emin Göksan and officially retired on September 1, 1986.

Atakan was married and had two children.

Web links

• Entry on the homepage of the Navy