Chief of the Personnel Management Branch for the TGS
Chief of Plan and Operations for SHAPE
Chief of Training and Exercise for the TGS
Chief of Training and Education for the TGS
Deputy Inspector General for the Turkish Land Forces Command
Emin Cihangir Akşit (born July 16, 1953) is a former director of the NATOStandardization Agency (NSA). Akşit had a forty-year military service, where he earned seventeen badges before retiring in 2008 as a major general. He is known for his establishment of total quality management and change management that modernized the Turkish Armed Forces. Akşit is also a noted author, having written three historical fiction novels, as well as articles for several military magazines and journals.
In 1994, he began serving as the Chief of the Personnel Management Branch for the General Staff of the Republic of Turkey (TGS) in Ankara.[5] It was during this time that he established the total quality management (TQM) philosophy[3][6] which was considered instrumental in the modernization of the Turkish Armed Forces.[5] Akşit designed this form of TQM to renew the personal and evaluation systems used by the Turkish Armed Forces. It also worked to establish a better educational social system for military families that lived at military bases in Turkey.[5]
Between 2003 and 2005, Akşit and his team were responsible for establishing strategic management and planning systems for the Turkish Armed Forces.[3] During this time, he established the NATO Defense Against Terrorism Centre of Excellence, which he personally presented to the Chief of Defence, NATO Military Committee and North Atlantic Council, as well as starting the first course in NATO Defence in Suicide Bombing. Akşit also managed the Turkish Partnership for Peace (PfP) Training Centre.[5] In 2005, he became Chief of Training and Education. There he initiated the CO-War Academies for Tirana, Albania and Kabul, Afghanistan and managed training and education for nations that were eligible under NATO, PfP and the Mediterranean Dialogue (as well as other nations).[3] As Chief, he and Albanian Chief of Staff Pellumb Kazimi signed an agreement for increased military cooperation between Turkey and Albania.[11] On August 16, 2005, Akşit took over the 15th Infantry Division.[2][12] From 2005 to 2007, Akşit commanded the infantry to apply divisional-level strategic planning and TQM.[13][14] He was then assigned to be the Deputy Inspector General for the Turkish Land Forces Command.[14][15] Between 2007 and 2008, he worked with Land Forces Command Headquarters to provide operational feedback, commanded fifty selected colonels and oversaw live exercises from forty brigades, regiments, battalions and units (including Turkish troops at bases in Bosnia and Lebanon).[3][4]
Post-military career
Akşit retired as a major general in September 2008 with seventeen badges earned during his forty-year military career.[3][5] He earned badges for combat operations, meritorious unit command, shooting, training, superior meritorious performance and two badges for operations success.[5]
On July 1, 2010, he was selected by members of NATO to be the Director of the NATO Standardization Agency (NSA) where he focuses on agency reform.[3][19] As director, he has made speeches at the ISPRAT 2nd International Government CIO Knowledge Exchange in Brussels as well as the 2010 and 2011 DMSMS Standardization conferences in the United States.
On March 12, 2013, Akşit and Ukrainian major general Viktor Nazarov signed a "road map" towards cooperation between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the NSA.[20][21] The document was considered important in terms of aligning the Armed Forces of Ukraine with armed forces of other NATO countries, as well getting support in standardization from the NSA.[20] Two weeks later on March 25, 2013, the Director of the Deutsches Institut für Normung (DIN) Torsten Bahke and Akşit signed the Technical Cooperation Agreement between the DIN and NSA in Berlin, Germany.[22]
Akşit began his writing career in 2008.[10] He has published three novels, all of which are historical fiction. His first novel, Sarı Sessizlik Sarıkamış 1914: Bir Kayboluş Romanı was published in 2009[23] having previously worked on writing the novel since 1981.[24] The same year he published his second novel, Çiğiltepe: Miralay Reşat Bey (1879–1922) ve vatan savunmasında 27 yıl.[25] It was based on the life of Ottoman and Turkish Army officer Reşat Çiğiltepe. His latest novel, Savruluş, was published in 2011.[26] Akşit has also written several articles for military magazines. One article he wrote, titled "Military and Chess", was published by the Ege University Faculty of Science on their website.[4]
Akşit is married to his wife, Yasemin, and has two children.[2][3] Akşit's hobbies include chess, horseback riding, skiing and painting.[3] As a painter, Akşit has taken part in several painting exhibitions since the 1970s. He had three oil painting exhibitions of his works: two in Turkey (1975 in Istanbul and 2001 in Kars) and one in Belgium (2003 in Mons).[4][10]
Yeni bir yönetim anlayışı: toplam kalite yönetimi (TKY) ve Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri perspektifi (in Turkish). Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri Dergisi. 1997.
Cumhurbaşkanlığı Muhafız Alay Komutanlığında Toplam Kalite Yönetimi Uygulamaları (in Turkish). Kamu yönetiminde kalite in Ankara. May 1999.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Sarı Sessizlik Sarıkamış 1914: Bir Kayboluş Romanı (in Turkish). Istanbul: Doğan Kitapçılık. 2009. ISBN9786051111452.
Çiğiltepe: Miralay Reşat Bey (1879–1922) ve vatan savunmasında 27 yıl (in Turkish). Istanbul: Doğan Kitapçılık. 2009. ISBN9786051113043.
Savruluş (in Turkish). Istanbul: Doğan Kitapçılık. 2011. ISBN9786051119656.
NATO Standardization – 60 Years of Normative Success. NATO Standardization Agency Brussels. 2011. OCLC832134355.
^ abcdefghijkl"Mr. Cihangir Aksit". natoexhibition.org. Future Soldier Exhibition & Conference International. Archived from the original on February 2, 2014. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
