Sedat Önal appointed as Ambassador to the United States

Appointment decisions signed by AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have been published in the Official Gazette. According to the decision, Sedat Önal has been appointed as the Ambassador of the Republic of Türkiye to the USA.

Rifat Cem Örnekol, Deputy Director General for South and West Europe, has been appointed as Ambassador to the Republic of Guinea; Ahmet İhsan Kızıltan to the Republic of Chile; Korhan Kemik, Deputy Director General for East Asia, to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; Beliz Celasin Rende, Deputy Director General for Information, to the Republic of Guatemala; Mehmet Saik Uyanık, Deputy Director General for International Law Jurisprudence, to the Republic of Bulgaria; Naciye Gökçen Kaya to the Republic of Costa Rica; Semih Lütfu Turgut to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka; and Ahmet Ergin, a member of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Inspection Board, to the Republic of Equatorial Guinea.

Ahmet Yıldız has been appointed as the Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

According to the aforementioned decision published in the Official Gazette, Ahmet Yıldız, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, has been appointed as the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Türkiye to the United Nations. The appointment decisions were made in accordance with articles 2, 3, and 4 of Presidential Decree No. 3.

WHO IS SEDAT ÖNAL, THE NEWLY APPOINTED AMBASSADOR TO THE USA?

Ambassador Önal, the Permanent Representative to the UN who has been tasked with the role of Ambassador to Washington, was born in Kayseri on August 11, 1963. A 1985 graduate of the Ankara University Faculty of Political Sciences, Department of International Relations, Önal began his career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a Candidate Career Diplomat in the Personnel Department between December 1989 and July 1990. After serving as a candidate career diplomat in the Intelligence and Research Department, Önal worked as a Third Secretary at the Turkish Embassy in Kuwait from 1991 to 1993.

Serving as Vice Consul at the Münster Consulate General from October 1993 to January 1997, Önal later held positions in various department head offices. After serving as Vice Consul and Consul at the New York Consulate General between 1998 and 2002, Önal served as Counselor at the Turkish Embassy in Tehran from 2002 to 2005. Following his tenure there, he held various positions in the Middle East Directorate General, the Vienna Consulate General, and the Middle East Deputy Directorate General, before serving as the Turkish Ambassador to Amman from July 2012 to November 2016.

Following his roles in the North Africa and Middle East Directorate General and as Deputy Undersecretary, Önal served as Deputy Minister between 2018 and 2023. Since February 2023, Önal had been serving as Türkiye's Permanent Representative to the UN in New York.