Namık Tan (born 1956 in

Mardin Mardin (; ; romanized: ''Mārdīn''; ; ) is a city and seat of the Artuklu District of Mardin Province in Turkey. It is known for the Artuqids, Artuqid architecture of its old city, and for its strategic location on a rocky hill near the Tigris ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

) is a Turkish former diplomat and politician from the

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party (RPP; , CHP ) is a Kemalism, Kemalist and Social democracy, social democratic political party in Turkey. It is the oldest List of political parties in Turkey, political party in Turkey, founded by Mustafa Kemal ...

. He was the ambassador of

to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. He held that office from February 2010 until May 2014. He was a former ambassador of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

between 2007 and 2009. He also served in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, and in senior positions at the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

. He was elected to the

Grand National Assembly of Turkey The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( ), usually referred to simply as the GNAT or TBMM, also referred to as , in Turkish, is the Unicameralism, unicameral Turkey, Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by ...

from Istanbul (II) in the

2023 Turkish parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Turkey on 14 May 2023, alongside presidential elections, to elect all 600 members of the Grand National Assembly. The incoming members formed the 28th Parliament of Turkey. The elections had originally been ...

Early life

Tan's family traces its ancestral roots to

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Ossetia Ossetia ( , ; or , or , ) is an Ethnolinguistics, ethnolinguistic region on both sides of the Greater Caucasus Mountains, largely inhabited by the Ossetians. The Ossetian language is part of the Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian b ...

and

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. He became interested in diplomacy at a young age. His father was a Turkish administrator and his work required the family to move around frequently. This broad exposure prompted Tan to take the foreign service examination. He studied law but did not become a lawyer. Namık Tan was appointed as the Turkish Ambassador to

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

in December 2006, replacing

Feridun Sinirlioğlu Feridun Hadi Sinirlioğlu (born 30 January 1956) is a Turkish diplomat and politician serving as the Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) since 6 December 2024. Previously, he served as permanent ...

. On January 22, 2007, he presented his letter of credence to Israeli President

Moshe Katsav Moshe Katsav (; born Musa Qassab; 5 December 1945) is an Israeli former politician and was the president of Israel from 2000 to 2007. He was also a leading Likud member of the Israeli Knesset and a minister in its Cabinet of Israel, cabinet. He ...

and began his new assignment. During his tenure as ambassador, diplomatic relations between Israel and Turkey were at a normal level, but were hit by the Davos Crisis between

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

and

Shimon Peres Shimon Peres ( ; ; born Szymon Perski, ; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the president of Israel from 2007 t ...

in early 2009. Tan was appointed Deputy Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in July 2009. Namık Tan was appointed to this position after the resignation of Ambassador to Washington Nabi Şensoy in December 2009. On February 25, 2010, he presented his letter of credence to President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

and began his new assignment. After four years in office, he was transferred to the central office by decree dated March 17, 2014. After being transferred to the center, Tan retired and was elected as a member of the board of directors of the construction company

STFA Group STFA Group () is a Turkish conglomerate, providing services in the construction, energy distribution, construction equipment and construction chemicals industries. STFA was founded in 1938 by contractors Sezai Türkeş and Feyzi Akkaya. STFA has b ...

References

1956 births Living people 21st-century diplomats People from Mardin Ambassadors of Turkey to Israel Ambassadors of Turkey to the United States Members of the 28th Parliament of Turkey Deputies of Istanbul Republican People's Party (Turkey) politicians {{Turkey-diplomat-stub

Early life

See also

References