Salih Omurtak

Salih Omurtak (1889 – 23 June 1954) was a Turkish general and the 4th Chief of the General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces.

Biography

He was born 1889 in Thessaloniki, in the Salonica Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire (present-day Greece). He graduated from the Ottoman Military Academy in 1907 with the rank of a lieutenant. After finishing the Staff College in 1910, he became a staff officer and served at several headquarters in the Ottoman Army.

Deployed to Ankara on 22 January 1920, he joined the Turkish National Movement and commanded various troops during and after the Turkish War of Independence, including the 61st Division. He was promoted to the rank of the Mirliva in 1926, and in 1930, he became a Ferik. From 1940 on, Omurtak held the commander-in-chief post of the First Army in the rank of Orgeneral.

He was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces on 1 August 1946 following the resignation of Kazım Orbay, and served at this position until 8 June 1949. His following duty was the membership in the Military High Advisory Board, which he held until his retirement on 6 July 1950.

Salih Omurtak died on 23 June 1954 in Ankara. His body was moved later to a permanent burial place in the Turkish State Cemetery.