Parliament approves bill allowing appointment of envoys from outside Foreign Ministry

ANKARA

Lawmakers engaged into tense discussions before the vote of the bill on the appointment of ambassadors at the Parliament. AA photo

The Turkish Parliament approved a bill today that included radical changes regarding the appointment of ambassadors by the Foreign Ministry. According to the new law, which was integrated into the "omnibus bill" voted on at Parliament throughout the week upon the insistence of Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, ambassadorial posts will not be reserved only for career diplomats working for the ministry.

The law allows the ministry from now to appoint to embassies and representations at international organizations experts or other bureaucrats from outside its own ranks.

The system in place foresaw that only diplomats who completed a certain number of years could obtain the position that allowed them to be appointed as ambassadors. The change of the system based on career had reportedly caused much unease among diplomats, leading lawmakers to remove the bill proposal from the "omnibus bill" at first.

The new law also gives the same status and privileges to ambassadors from outside after the end of their assignment, such as being entitled to be nominated to a senior post inside the ministry.