In 2015 he was appointed commander of the 6th Mechanized Infantry Division and ordered his officers to remain loyal during the 15 July 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt.

Osman Erbaş was born in Saray village in the Yerköy district of Yozgat Province, Turkey on 20 March 1962.

[1] In 2008, Erbaş was promoted to the rank of brigadier general and was appointed to a role in the Ministry of National Defense's inspection department.

Erbaş was a keen proponent of unmanned aerial vehicles and brought in comprehensive training in their use in anti-terrorism operations for the men in his brigade.

He afterwards attended ceremonies for those men of the security services who were killed in the coup attempt, stating that their killers "are not soldiers", but "murderers".