Türkiye nominates new envoys to US, UN

ANKARA

Türkiye has nominated its new ambassador to the US and permanent representative to the UN in New York.

Sedat Onal, who currently holds the position of permanent representative to the UN, will assume the role of Türkiye's ambassador to Washington, while Deputy Foreign Minister Ahmet Yildiz will be Türkiye’s new permanent representative to the UN.

According to diplomatic sources, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan informed the appointees of their new roles via telephone.

Yildiz earned his undergraduate degree in international relations from Ankara University.

He held several positions in the government as First Class Consul at Türkiye's Consulate General in Mosul from December 2009 to November 2011, and then as ambassador to Sarajevo from November 2011 to July 2014.

Subsequently, he became senior diplomatic adviser to the prime minister in 2014 before transitioning to senior diplomatic adviser to the president after the presidential elections. Yildiz then served as deputy foreign minister from 2016 to April 2018.

In 2018, he was elected to parliament for the AK Party and worked as the head of the Turkish Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and a member of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye and NATO Parliamentary Assembly.

Yildiz began serving again as deputy foreign minister on June 22, 2023.

Onal, a graduate in international relations at Ankara University, served as Vice-Consul and Consul at the Consulate General of Türkiye in New York from 1998 to 2002.

He then assumed the role of Counselor at the Embassy of Türkiye in Tehran from 2002 to 2005.

Following his service there, he held various positions, including department head at the Directorate General for the Middle East, Consul General in Vienna and Deputy Director General for the Middle East.

From July 2012 to November 2016, he served as ambassador to Amman. He served as Directorate General and also Deputy Undersecretary for North Africa and the Middle East and became deputy minister from 2018 to 2023.

Onal has been Türkiye's permanent representative to the UN in New York since February 2023.

The nominations will be official when they are printed in the Official Gazette.