Chief of the Operations Directorate of the Turkish Ground Forces, Major General Bakhtiyar Ersay seen wearing Azerbaijani military uniform, including an Azeri patch during Turkish MoD Hulusi Akar’s visit to Azerbaijan on December 31. He was among the hosting side, not the visiting.
Ersay is believed to be one of the Turkish generals embedded in the Azerbaijani Forces during the war.
Seen below with the Turkish military, Ersay is one of the closest generals to Erdogan, after a conspiracy against him in 2003, which he came out of with Brigadier General rank
In 2003, Ersay was sentenced to 16 years in prison, but he gave up all the names of the key figures who organized the plot against Erdogan when he was Prime Minister, thus he became one of Erdogan’s favorite generals.
Ersay is an experienced counter-guerilla warfare specialist. He headed the Turkish 2nd Commando Brigade which took part in fighting against the Kurdish PKK.
Ersay is believed to have taken over the role of sidelined, later dismmised Azeri Chief of the General Staff of Lezgin origin, Nejmeddin Sadikov, which rumors said the Turks did not trust him due to his close ties to Russia.
Other Turkish general who were involved in the war against Artsakh are Lieutenant General Seref Ongay, commander of the Turkish 3rd Army, country’s largest, located in the Erzincan.
Ongay took part in planning and implementation of the operation in Artsakh. He was in Azerbaijan in September and October of 2020, and before that in the summer.
Another one is Major General Goksel Kahya. He was spotted during a meeting between high-ranking Turkish defense officials and Aliyev on August 13 in Baku.
Kahya organized the work of the Global Center for Security and Operations in Libya, which managed Bayraktar TB2 drones.
In Libya, Kahya’s identity was discovered when Haftar’s troops captured several Turkish advisers and obtained copies of passports of the Turkish personnel who worked for the GSCO.
According to Russian Analyst Denis Korkodinov, all operational intelligence information obtained through Bayraktars in Artsakh was being reported to Kahya, who reported it to the Turkish leadership.
He was managing all Bayraktar TB2 flight operations in Artsakh.
Kahya seen in Ukraine as the country was purchasing Bayraktar TB2 drones.
