Turkey reshuffles key envoys

A long-awaited decree reshuffling the Foreign Ministry’s key diplomats has been finalized with appointments to crucial posts like Moscow, Tehran, Rome and Madrid. One of the most important reshuffles is the appointment of deputy undersecretary Ömer Önhon, who was responsible for the Middle East, particularly Syria, to Madrid as Turkey’s ambassador. Önhon had to leave Damascus, where he was Turkey’s ambassador, after Ankara broke ties with the Bashar al-Assad regime in 2011.

The appointments have been verbally notified to the ambassadors by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, but the official process will follow after being published in the Official Gazette.

Turkey’s ambassador to Moscow, Aydın Sezgin, is moving to Rome, while Ümit Yardım, Turkey’s ambassador to Tehran will be replacing him in the Russian capital. Hakan Tekin, serving as the deputy director of the Iraqi desk at the Foreign Ministry, will serve as Turkey’s new ambassador to Tehran.

President Abdullah Gül’s long-serving chief of staff Osman Koray Ertaş has been appointed as Turkey’s ambassador to Bucharest.  Davutoğlu’s two right-hand men, chief of staff of the minister Cabinet Ahmet Tuta and his special advisor Selçuk Ünal have also been appointed abroad. Tuta will serve as Turkey’s ambassador to Zagreb and Ünal will represent Turkey in Ottawa. 

The Foreign Ministry’s decree also suggests a new ambassador to the Vatican. Current ambassador Kenan Gürsoy, a renowned academic on philosophy, will be replaced by another non-career ambassador, Prof. Mehmet Paçacı, deputy head of the foreign relations department of the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet)...