EU congratulates Turkey’s Volkan Bozkir on UNGA helm

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) – The European Union Thursday congratulated Volkan Bozkir on his election as the 75th president of the UN General Assembly.

The EU foreign policy chief issued a statement to greet the election of the Turkish diplomat and the five new non-permanent members of the UN Security Council.

“With these elections comes responsibility. The European Union looks forward to working with all to address global challenges in these uncertain times and to support international peace and security,” Josep Borrell wrote.

Bozkir is the first Turkish national to head the General Assembly. He will take office in September and hold the post for one year.

He is currently a ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party lawmaker from Istanbul and the head of parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee.

He was elected to the Turkish legislature in 2011 following nearly 40 years in the foreign service that included posts in Germany, New York, Baghdad, and Romania.

In the 2000s, he was Turkey’s ambassador to the EU and worked as a deputy secretary-general and secretary-general for EU affairs in the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Bozkir also served as Turkey’s minister for EU Affairs and chief negotiator for EU accession between 2014 and 2016.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan formally declared Bozkir’s candidacy in his address to the UN General Assembly last September.

The General Assembly is the main deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the UN.

It provides a forum to discuss all international affairs for the 193 nations of the UN.