Mehmet İlker Başbuğ (born 29 April 1943[1]) was till August 2010 the 26th Chief of the General Staff of Turkey. He graduated from the Turkish Military Academy in 1961 as an infantry officer. After graduating from the Infantry School in 1963, he served in different units of the Turkish Army as Platoon and Commando Company Commander until 1970. In 2002, he was promoted to the rank of General and served as the Deputy Commander of the Turkish Army until 2003, and then as the Deputy Chief of the General Staff until 2005. Between 2005 and 2006, he served as the Commander of the First Army until he assumed the post of the Commander of the Turkish Army on August 30, 2006.

Basbug has been arrested in the early morning of January 5, 2012 accused of being at the head of a "terrorist organization" that tried to overthrow the conservative Islamic government of the country.