Eşref Bitlis (Malatya 1933 – Ankara 17 February 1993) was a general in the Turkish Gendarmerie, who died in a controversial plane crash.

[1] In 1978, Eşref Bitlis was promoted to brigadier general and appointed commander of the 2nd Commando Brigade in Bolu, a mountain warfare specialized unit.

[1] As General Commander of the Turkish Gendarmerie, Bitlis supported the plans of President Turgut Özal to resolve the Kurdish–Turkish conflict by peaceful means.

A week before he died, Bitlis met the foreign ministers of Syria, Iran and Iraq to discuss Özal's peace plans.

He was also investigating an issue which journalist Uğur Mumcu, assassinated in January 1993, had been, namely the funnelling of 100,000 rifles from Turkey to Kurdish armed forces in Iraq.

[2] The Turkish Daily News later interviewed an army general who said that the commander of the Joint United States Military Mission for Aid to Turkey (JUSMMAT) had complained about Bitlis to the chief of staff for collecting information about illegal activities pertaining to Operation Provide Comfort (OPC).

The interviewed general said that Bitlis had discovered arms intended for Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani concealed in crates purportedly containing food.

Bitlis, his aide-de-camp Fahir Işık, technician Emir Öner and the pilots, who had VIP green card certification for excellence in flying, died in the crash.

[3] Ersever himself was killed on 4 November 1993, along with his girlfriend Nevval Boz and right-hand man Mustafa Deniz, some suggest to cover up Bitlis' death.

[3] JITEM fugitive Abdülkadir Aygan suspects Veli Küçük, who is currently detained in the Ergenekon investigation, of having ordered Ersever's death.

[11] Both Bitlis and Mumcu were investigating how Jalal Talabani, one of the Kurdish leaders of northern Iraq, came into possession of 100,000 firearms belonging to the Turkish Armed Forces.

[14]On September 30, 2010, the office of the chief public prosecutor in Ankara reopened the case relating to the death of Bitlis on the basis of some news recently published in the Turkish media.