Turkey appoints new foreign envoys

By Meltem Bulur

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey has appointed Ambassador Ahmet Muhtar Gun as its new permanent representative to the United Nations, diplomatic sources said on Wednesday.

Gun served as deputy undersecretary at the Foreign Ministry. He will replace Feridun Sinirlioglu, who was appointed last year.

Meanwhile Murat Mercan -- a ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party deputy of the western Eskisehir province -- has been appointed ambassador in Tokyo.

Merve Kavakci, a former Istanbul deputy from a right-wing Virtue Party, which was shut down in 2001, has become ambassador in Kuala Lumpur.

She was known in Turkey for being banned from parliament after attending an oath ceremony in parliament wearing a headscarf following her election as a lawmaker from Virtue Party. Her citizenship was also revoked.

Kavakci, who was also selected among the World’s Most Influential 500 Muslims by Georgetown University in 2009, took her case to the European Court of Human Rights and won in 2007.

The court found her expulsion from parliament was a violation of human rights.

Turkey lifted its ban on headscarves in the civil service in 2013.

The list of other envoys appointed by Ankara are as follows:

Mustafa Yurdakul was appointed ambassador in Islamabad ambassador, Hasan Ulusoy in Sofia, Oguzhan Ertugrul in Kabul, Levent Gumrukcu in Brussels, Akif Oktay in Budapest and Ceren Yazgan in Tbilisi.