Cihangir Akşit Emin Cihangir Akşit ( born July 16 , 1953 ) is the current Director of the NATO Standardization 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 wrote three historical fiction novels , as well as articles for several military magazines and journals . Career . Military career . Akşit began his military career in 1974 when he graduated the Turkish Military Academy . From there , he held several positions within Turkey ' s School of Infantry , Tuzla Piyade Okulu . Akşit graduated from army staff college in Istanbul in 1984 after serving as a platoon leader and commander of various companies , battalion s , regiment s and divisions for the Turkish Army . He then served on staff and infantry positions . Between 1991 and 1993 he served on NATO ' s Allied Forces Southern Europe ( AFSOUTH ) as a CAX ( Computer - Assisted Exercise ) Project Officer . He also served on the Ministry of National Defence until 1994 . 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 . It was during this time that he established the total quality management ( TQM ) philosophy which was considered instrumental in the modernization of the Turkish Armed Forces . 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 . In 1997 , he was assigned for two years as Commander of the Presidential Guards Regimental Headquarters and was responsible for security at Çankaya Köşkü . While he was Commander , he applied TQM and control management to his regiment , as well as authoring two books which were later distributed to all the units of the Turkish Armed Forces . He also gave many seminars and speeches to universities on the subject such as Marmara University , Hacettepe University , Başkent University , Kocaeli University and to several major organizations such as the General Directorate of Security and the Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation . In 1999 , Akşit was promoted to brigadier general of the 14th Mechanized Infantry Brigade in Kars at the Turkish - Armenian border , applying brigade - level TQM . Akşit returned to NATO as a Chief of Plan and Operations ( OPX ) for the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe ( SHAPE ) in September 2001 until 2003 . From there he was promoted to the rank of major general and was assigned by the TGS to be Chief of Training and Exercise . Between 2003 and 2005 , Akşit and his team were responsible for establishing strategic management and planning systems for the Turkish Armed Forces 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 . 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 ) . As Chief , he and Albanian Chief of Staff Pellumb Kazimi signed an agreement for increased military cooperation between Turkey and Albania . On August 16 , 2005 , Akşit took over the 15th Infantry Division . From 2005 to 2007 , Akşit commanded the infantry to apply divisional - level strategic planning and TQM . He was then assigned to be the Deputy Inspector General for the Turkish Land Forces Command . 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 ) . Post - military career . Akşit retired as a major general in September 2008 with seventeen badges earned during his forty - year military career . He earned badges for combat operations , meritorious unit command , shooting , training , superior meritorious performance and two badges for operations success . After retirement , he was assigned as President Abdullah Gül ' s defence consultant as well as Expert Consultant to the permanent Mission of Turkey to NATO in Brussels . 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 . 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 the Ukraine and the NSA . The document was considered important in terms of aligning the Armed Forces of the Ukraine with armed forces of other NATO countries , as well getting support in standardization from the NSA . 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 . Akşit began his writing career in 2008 . 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 having previously worked on writing the novel since 1981 . The same year he published his second novel , " Çiğiltepe : Miralay Reşat Bey ( 1879 - 1922 ) ve vatan savunmasında 27 yıl " . It was based on the life of Ottoman and Turkish Army officer Reşat Çiğiltepe . His latest novel , " Savruluş " , was published in 2011 . Akşit has also wrote 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 . In 2012 , Akşit was awarded his PhD in Strategic Planning and National Security Strategies from the Strategic Research Institute ( SAREN ) in Istanbul after taking major modules from the University of Kent . Personal life . Akşit is married to his wife , Yasemin , and has two children . Akşit ' s hobbies include chess , horseback riding , skiing and painting . 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 ) .