Ünal, Gümrükçü to be placed in new posts

ANKARA

Selçuk Ünal, the current spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry, will soon be appointed as the new chief advisor to Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, sources have told Hürriyet Daily News.

Ünal’s predecessor, Gürcan Balık, has been assigned to be Turkey’s new permanent representative to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris.

Ünal, 41, graduated from the international relations department of the Ankara University Political Science Faculty. After he entered the Foreign Ministry in 1992, Ünal worked at the Department of Western Europe and the Department of the Middle East at the Foreign Ministry headquarters, while his posts abroad included assignments at the Turkish Embassy in Doha, Qatar, the Turkish Embassy in Dublin, Ireland, the Permanent Mission of Turkey to the U.N. Office in Geneva and the Permanent Mission of Turkey to the U.N. Ünal is married with one daughter and speaks English and French. 

Levent Gümrükçü, Deputy Director General for the Policy Planning Department, will replace Ünal as the new spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry. Before his post in Ankara, Gümrükçü served as the first counselor of Turkey’s permanent mission to the United Nations.

Ünal and Gümrükçü’s appointments will become official when the related governmental decree is published in the Official Gazette.