H.E. Mr. Ertugrul Apakan, former Ambassador of Turkey to the United Nations
Ambassador Ertuğrul Apakan of Turkey was appointed the Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine in April 2014.
Ambassador Apakan has had a longstanding diplomatic career, most recently as the Permanent Representative of Turkey to the United Nations (2009-2012). In 2010 Ambassador Apakan chaired the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee. He also undertook the Presidency of the UN Security Council for September of that year. During Turkey’s Council membership, the Turkish Mission acted as the lead country and penholder of the Security Council on issues related to Afghanistan, and the Ambassador was involved with the preparations for the Fourth UN Conference on Least Developed Countries, where he played an active role in fostering discussions on issues concerning women, children, the elderly, disability and disaster management.
Prior to the UN, Ambassador Apakan acted as Undersecretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2006-2009). During his tenure, he was engaged with the exploratory talks on the Aegean disputes between Turkey and Greece, as well as the negotiations of normalization protocols with Armenia. He played a part in the
beginning and early phases of the Trilateral Ankara Summit Process of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey. Ambassador Apakan has held a number of posts at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As Deputy Undersecretary and Director General, he was responsible for Turkish-US relations, played a key role in Turkey’s Latin America and the Caribbean initiative and took an active part in the negotiations of the UN Comprehensive Plan (the Annan Plan) on Cyprus. Over the course of his diplomatic career, the Ambassador has also served in a number of Turkish diplomatic missions in Vienna, Kuwait, Geneva and Cyprus.
The Ambassador was born in İzmir, Turkey in 1947. He holds a Master of Arts degree in international economy from Ege University in Turkey, with a major in international relations from Ankara University.
