Born in Manisa in 1955, Ümit Dündar graduated from the Turkish Military Academy with the rank of third lieutenant in 1975, and from Engineer Corps School with the rank of Lieutenant in 1975.
He served as commodity consultant at the Land Forces with various command and control units until 1983. He graduated from the Army Staff College in 1985 and became a staff officer. After becoming a staff officer, he served in the following positions respectively; the 4th Armored Brigade Command and Logistics Branch Directorate at the Mechanized Infantry Division Command, Plan Officer at the Land Forces General Secretariat, General Staff Strategy and Force Planning Department Plan and Program Officer, the 41st Mechanized Infantry Brigade Command Infantry Battalion Command, London Land Attaché, Director of the Plan and Operation Division of the Third Army Operations and the Commander of the 5th Border Regiment.
He was promoted to brigadier general in 2001. He respectively served as Head of MSB Construction and Real Estate Department, MSB Construction Estate and NATO Infrastructure Directorate and 28th Peace Force Brigade Command. He was promoted to brigadier general in 2005. In this rank, he respectively served as Chief of General Staff, Commander of Training School and Training Center, and in 2009 he was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed to 5th Corps Command. In 2011, he was appointed to the under secretariat of the Ministry of National Defense. He was promoted to full general in 2013 to the Army Command Appointed to the 1st Army Command in 2015.
After the military coup attempt on July 15, 2016, he was appointed as Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and served in this duty for a while.
He was appointed as the second chief of the General Staff with the decision of the Supreme Military Council on July 28, 2016.
July 15 Process
Ümit Dündar, who was appointed as deputy chief as the Chief of General Staff Full General Hulusi Akar was detained by putschists on the night of the coup attempt, played a major role in preventing the coup attempt.
“The coup attempt has been rejected by the TAF chain of command”
As the General Staff Commander and force commanders were taken hostage during the July 15 FETÖ coup attempt of, one measure that prevented the coup from achieving success was the assignment of 1st Army Commander Full General Ümit Dündar as the General Staff Commander. Assigned as deputy with the signature of Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, Dündar played an important role in retrieving President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan from Marmaris to Istanbul, securing his safety, and following the military command process.
Making a statement to the press under the title of General Staff Deputy Commander on the morning of July 16th, Full General Ümit Dündar stated that the coup plotters had captured many commanders and that their whereabouts were unknown, said, “It is understood that this is a coup attempt plotted by a group of soldiers comprising of various ranks sneaked inside the TAF. Activities aiming to seize the government have been detected. The coup attempt has been rejected by TAF’s command chain from the very first moment. I would like to say that we, as TAF, are very dedicated to clean up the members of the parallel structure who participated in the coup attempt from our army. TAF will continue to serve as an institution ruled by the nation.”
Dündar spoke to the Coup Commission about that night
General Staff Vice President Full General Ümit Dündar gave information to the Assembly Investigation Commission founded to investigate the coup attempt of the Fethullah Terrorist Organization on July 15.
Stating that he did not speak on the phone with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the night of July 15, Dündar said that he was assigned with an order from the president to stand proxy as General Staff Commander toward morning; and that he met with the president at Atatürk Airport in the morning of July 16 and gave him information.
