Turkey's Chief of Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar kept his post as top military officer in the Turkish Armed Forces during yesterday's Supreme Military Council (YAŞ).

Gen. Akar was born in 1952 in the central Kayseri province, graduated from the Turkish Military Academy as an infantry officer in 1972 and from the Infantry School in 1973.

Following tours as a platoon leader and company commander between 1973 and 1976, he was assigned to the Turkish Military Academy as a cadet platoon leader and data processing officer for four years.

He graduated from Army Command and Staff College in 1982, from Armed Forces College in 1985 and from the U.S. Armed Forces Staff College in 1987.

Akar also served abroad as a staff officer in the intelligence division for the Allied Forces Southern Europe (AFSOUTH) headquarters in Naples, Italy between 1990 and 1993, and as the commander of the Turkish Brigade in Zenica, Bosnia from 1997 to 1998.

Subsequent to his promotion to the rank of general in 2011, he served as the deputy chief of the Turkish General Staff from 2011 to 2013 and commander of the Turkish Land Forces from 2013 to 2015.

On August 18, 2015, he became the 29th Chief of Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), taking over the post from Gen. Necdet Özel.

His military and professional education includes a number of academic studies at Middle East Technical University, the Political Sciences Faculty of Ankara University and Boğaziçi University.

Akar was one of the high-ranking military officials kidnapped and held hostage by putschist soldiers during the July 2016 coup attempt.

He also accompanied President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during many of his recent visits abroad.