Turkish diplomat appointed to key UN post

Mavi Boncuk | Having been appointed to a senior UN post by the UN secretary-general, Ambassador Levent Bilman has become the latest Turkish diplomat to help increase Turkey’s visibility in multilateral diplomacy with posts at international organizations, while Ankara termed the appointment a “a concrete sign of Turkey’s soft power.”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Ambassador Bilman, who is currently representing his country in New Delhi, as the director of the Policy and Mediation Division at the UN Department of Political Affairs (UNDPA) which is led by UN Undersecretary-general for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe.

Ban officially notified Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu of his decision concerning Bilman during a bilateral meeting in New York on Tuesday, the Anatolia news agency reported. Davutoğlu has been in New York for a high-level UN Security Council meeting on Iraq.

In Ankara, the Foreign Ministry expressed pleasure over Bilman’s appointment, saying that this appointment will strengthen Turkey’s existing contributions to the UN. “Turkey’s recently increasing success in international organizations is impressive. This success is a concrete sign of Turkey’s becoming more active and of its soft-power,” the ministry said in a written statement released on Wednesday. “Ambassador Bilman’s appointment to the Directorship of the Policy and Mediation Division, at the same time, constitutes manifestation of initiatives assumed by Turkey concerning mediation and its unique position,” the ministry added.

Before being assigned to New Delhi as Turkey’s ambassador to India with a governmental decree that went into effect in June 2008, Bilman served as the Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson for around a year and a half.

Recalling that career diplomat Bilman also worked as Turkey’s permanent representative to the UN, the ministry said he has vast experience on issues of crisis management and conflict prevention.

A number of Turkish officials, ranging from Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Secretary-General Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu to Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) President Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, have been at the helm of key international organizations. Turkish Ambassador Rauf Engin Soysal was recently appointed by Ban as the new UN special envoy for assistance to Pakistan. Earlier this year, Ambassador Hüseyin Diriöz was appointed as NATO deputy secretary-general responsible for defense policy and planning, while Ambassador Selim Kuneralp was elected as chairman of the Energy Charter Conference.