Volkan Bozkir of Turkey President of Seventy-Fifth General Assembly
On 17 June 2020, the United Nations General Assembly elected Volkan Bozkir of Turkey as President of its seventy-fifth session, which runs from September 2020 to September 2021. (See Press Release GA/12250.)
Mr. Bozkir has served for 39 years in Turkey’s foreign service. He was elected to Parliament in 2011, and over the next nine years held a range of positions including Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Chairman of the Turkey-United States Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Caucus, Chairman of the Turkey-Australia Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group and Co-Chairman of the Turkish-Russian Civic Forum. From 2014 to 2016, he served as Minister for European Union Affairs and Chief Negotiator.
Over the course of his career, Mr. Bozkir has also held positions including Permanent Representative of Turkey to the European Union, Ambassador to Romania, Consul General in New York, Counsellor of the Permanent Representation to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), First Secretary of the Embassy in Iraq and Vice Consul General in Stuttgart, Germany.
In addition, he served as the Foreign Policy Adviser to Prime Minister Turgut Özal, Chief of Cabinet and Chief Foreign Policy Adviser to Presidents Turgut Özal and Süleyman Demirel, Deputy Undersecretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs responsible for European Union Affairs, and Secretary-General for European Union Affairs.
Mr. Bozkir has been awarded the Order of the Star of Romania, the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic with the rank of “Knight”, and the 100th Anniversary Medal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
He is married and has two children and three grandchildren.