Türkiye appoints Sedat Önal as permanent representative to UN

ANKARA

Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Önal has been appointed as the permanent representative of Türkiye to the United Nations, according to a presidential decree published in the Official Gazette on Feb. 4.

Önal served as third secretary at the Turkish Embassy in Kuwait, as vice consul at the Turkish Consulate General in Münster and the Turkish Consulate General in New York, and as a counselor at the Turkish Embassy in Tehran.

Ambassador Önal also served as consul general in Vienna between 2007-2009 and as the ambassador of Türkiye to Jordan between 2012-2016. Önal, who served as deputy director general at the Middle East Department of the Foreign Ministry between 2009 and 2012, had been serving as the deputy undersecretary for the Middle East and Africa since Nov. 25, 2016.

Önal replaces Feridun Sinirlioğlu, who was appointed as Türkiye’s ambassador to the U.N. in 2016. While he should have retired in January 2021 due to the age limit, he was appointed as the chief adviser to the presidency with a presidential decision published on Jan. 30, 2021, and his term at the U.N. was extended.