İsmail Aramaz has been posted to Sofia !

Foreign Ministry reshuffle promotes younger diplomats !

President Abdullah Gül has approved a decree reshuffling key ambassadorial posts at the Foreign Ministry, including postings to London, Moscow, Rome, Tel Aviv and Balkan capitals.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu personally telephoned the ambassadors subject to the reshuffle in order to let them know about their assignments and also spoke to their spouses and thanked them for their support.

According to the decree, Turkey’s Ambassador to Israel Ahmet Oğuz Çelikkol, who was publicly humiliated by a senior Israeli official in January, has been posted back to Ankara. Çelikkol will be replaced Kerim Uras, a young diplomat with expertise on Cyprus affairs. Foreign Ministry sources said Çelikkol could be posted abroad in the next decree since the ministry has “a high opinion of him.”

The posting in Tel Aviv will be Uras’ first ambassadorship as the decree in general is a reflection of Foreign Minister Davutoğlu’s approach of appointing younger diplomats to senior posts.

In a major reshuffling in August that included new appointments to 45 key positions, ambassadors who have served only one tour abroad dominated key diplomatic positions, including deputy undersecretary posts.

Ambassador Hüseyin Diriöz, currently the top foreign policy adviser to the Turkish president, has been posted to Rome. The outgoing ambassador in Rome, Ali Yakıtal, was last month recalled to Ankara in line with diplomatic protocol as he is the subject of an ongoing investigation over charges of “sexual harassment.”

Ambassador Aydın Sezgin, who is currently serving as the director general for intelligence at the Foreign Ministry and who is known for his expertise on the Armenian issue, has been posted to Moscow. This is also Sezgin’s first posting abroad as ambassador, although he served as Turkey’s consul general in Paris under the title of ambassador in the first half of this decade.

Ambassador Ünal Çeviköz, the deputy undersecretary of the Turkish Foreign Ministry for the Caucasus and Central Asia, who has been closely involved in normalization efforts with Armenia, has been posted to London, replacing Ambassador Yiğit Alpogan.

Among those who have become ambassador for the first time with this decree is Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak Özügergin, who has been posted to Zagreb at a time when Turkey’s focus on the Balkans affairs is intense.

İsmail Aramaz has been posted to Sofia, Ali Rıza Çolak to Belgrade and Gürol Sökmensüer to Skopje -- all of three have been appointed ambassador for the first time. Another young diplomat who will for the first time serve as ambassador is İnan Özyıldız, the current deputy director general for security affairs. Özyıldız has been posted to Beirut as Turkey’s former ambassador to Lebanon, Serdar Kılıç, was recently appointed the new secretary-general of the National Security Council (MGK), an institution that brings together top civilian and military officials. According to the decree, which will become official after being published in the Official Gazette, Ali Savut has been posted to Lisbon in order to replace Kaya Türkmen, who has been posted to Lefkoşa; Akın Algan to Tunisia; Murat Adalı to Jakarta; Nihat Civaner to Kinshasa; Ali Rıfat Köksal to Abuja; Lale Ülker to Astana; Tanju Sümer to Bern; and Aslı Üğdül to Senegal.

Ambassador Oğuz Demiralp, who was posted as ambassador to Bern in the summer of 2009, meanwhile, has been appointed as Turkey’s permanent representative to the United Nations office in Geneva.

05 April 2010,Monday
SÜLEYMAN KURT ANKARA