Rear Admiral İlker Avcı

Head of Operational Training Department Turkish Navy

Rear Admiral (LH) H.İlker AVCI, PhD. was born in İstanbul, and graduated from the Turkish Naval Academy in 2001. For over 15 years, he served on the frigates TCG Kocatepe (F-252), TCG Muavenet (F-250), TCG Gediz (F-495) and TCG Yavuz (F-240) as Weapons Electronic Officer, Weapons Officer and Executive Officer. He assumed the command of frigate TCG Yavuz (F-240) between 2019 and 2021. During this sea period, he took part in many national and international operations, missions and activities, such as national operations: Operation Black Sea Harmony and Operation Mediterranean Shield, Turkish Maritime Task Group Africa Deployment in 2014; NATO operations: Operation Active Endeavour (OAE) in 2002, Operation Unified Protector in Libya in 2011, Standing NATO Maritime Group Two (SNMG2) in 2012, and Operation Sea Guardian in 2020; CTF-151 Anti-Piracy Operations in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia in 2011; United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in 2021.

Rear Admiral AVCI (LH) also served on various levels of headquarters from tactical to strategic during his appointments in Turkish Southern Task Group Command in 2006, Turkish General Staff between 2008 and 2010, Turkish Naval Forces Command between 2010 and 2011, the Turkish Fleet Command between 2021 and 2022.

From 2022 to 2024, he served as the Joint Plans and Operations Officer at the Turkish Military Representative to NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. During this mission, he participated in the approval processes of many recent plans and documents at NATO Military Committee level, such as Regional Plans (RPs), Subordinate Strategic Plans (SSPs), MC Policy for Standing Naval Forces, Revision of the Operation Sea Guardian (OSG) OPLAN, Enhancing the Security of Critical Undersea Infrastructure.

Rear Admiral AVCI (LH) completed his master's degree in International Relations at the Strategic Research Institute of the Turkish War Colleges Command in 2008. Between 2014 and 2016, he served as an Instructor of International Relations and Maritime Security at the Turkish Naval Academy. In 2019, he completed the Command and Staff Course at the Naval War Institute of the National Defense University, and in 2021, he earned a PhD in International Relations from the Social Sciences Institute of Marmara University in İstanbul.

Rear Admiral (LH) AVCI was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral (Lower Half) in 2024 and served as the Northern Task Group Commander of Turkish Fleet between 2024-2025. During this appointment, he also served as the Commander of Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (COM SNMG2) between December 2024-July 2025. Admiral AVCI currently holds the position of the Head of Operational Training Department in Turkish Naval Forces Command in Ankara.