İsmail Metin Temel


General İsmail Metin Temel is a Turkish Second Army Command former commander. He was the commander of Turkish forces in Syria from 2016 to 2018.

Biography

İsmail Metin Temel was born in 1958 in Taht, Bayburt. His family settled in Adana in the 1970s. He joined the Turkish Army in 1981. In 2012, Temel was appointed Commander of the 3rd Tactical Infantry Division/Yuksekova Hakkari. In 2016, General Temel, by now Commander of the Van Gendarmerie Public Security Corps, was appointed Commander of the Second Army.

Military career

Ismail has commanded two campaigns, his first campaign was Operation Euphrates Shield, located on the Turkish-Syrian border in which he and Lt. Gen. Zekai Aksakallı successfully carried the operation and neutralizing over 3000 ISIL fighters. His second campaign came amid growing tensions between the Turkish and American governments over the latter's support of the Syrian Democratic Forces, which are made up primarily of Kurdish fighters of the YPG, which Turkey considers to be a branch of the PKK. In particular, Turkey objected to announced plans by the US to train and equip a 30,000 strong SDF border force, which Turkey claimed posed a direct threat to their security. On 31 December 2018, he was appointed to General Staff's Directorate of Audit and Evaluation by Presidential Decree.