TURKEY tr-diplomacy

PM advisor to become Indonesia ambassador

Ankara – Hürriyet Daily News | 8/11/2011 12:00:00 AM |

The Foreign Ministry has decided to appoint Zekeriya Akçam, an advisor to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, as Turkey’s next ambassador to Indonesia, in a rare choice of a non-career diplomat for a top embassy post, a senior diplomat said Thursday.

The Foreign Ministry has decided to appoint Zekeriya Akçam, an advisor to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, as Turkey’s next ambassador to Indonesia, in a rare choice of a non-career diplomat for a top embassy post, a senior diplomat said Thursday.

Akçam, 43, who has served also as a parliamentary deputy from Erdoğan’s party, was assigned to Jakarta in a decree dealing with diplomatic appointments, which is awaiting the approval of Erdoğan and President Abdullah Gül to take effect, the diplomat said.

As a lawmaker from 2002 to 2007, Akçam served also as Turkish representative at the European Convention and the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly.

Other non-career diplomats currently serving as Turkish ambassadors are philosophy professor Kenan Gürsoy at the Vatican and Tuncer Kayalar, former head of the Foreign Trade Undersecretariat, in Kenya.