Gov’t appoints non-career diplomats

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

The Turkish government has designated three more non-career diplomats as ambassadors, among them the former head of Turkey’s Higher Education Board (YÖK), Yusuf Ziya Özcan, who will represent Turkey in Poland, sources said.

Gov. Mehmet Niyazi Tanılır was named ambassador to Montenegro, while Ömer Faruk Doğan of the Foreign Trade Unsersecretariat was designated ambassador to Cameroon. The new postings also include National Security Council (MGK) Secretary-General Serdar Kılıç, who will be heading to Japan, and the Prime Ministry Foreign Policy Adviser Fuat Tanlay, who will represent Turkey in Canada. Other non-career diplomats appointed as Turkish ambassadors include former ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy Zekeriya Akçam in Indonesia, former head of the Foreign Trade Undersecretariat Tuncer Kayalar in Kenya, former head of the Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TİKA) Musa Kulaklıkaya in Mauritania, philosophy professor Kenan Gürsoy at the Vatican and Dr. Kani Torun in Somalia.