Ambassador (R) Dr. Ahmet Bülent MERİÇ

Ambassador (R) Dr. A. Bülent Meriç was born in 1957 in Ankara. He completed his primary, middle, and high school education at TED Ankara College. In 1978, he graduated from the Department of International Relations at the Faculty of Political Sciences, Ankara University. He then pursued a master’s degree in International Relations at the University of Hull, completing his studies in 1979. In 1992, he obtained a diploma in Business Administration from the Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration.

His diplomatic career spanned the years 1980 to 2020. Between 1983 and 1986, he served at the Turkish Embassy in Tel Aviv as Second Secretary and Chargé d’Affaires, followed by an assignment at the Tokyo Embassy from 1986 to 1988 as First Secretary. From 1990 to 1992, he was posted to the Helsinki Embassy as First Secretary and later served at the Permanent Representation of Türkiye to the Council of Europe (Strasbourg) from 1992 to 1994, also as First Secretary. Between 1996 and 2000, he held the position of Counsellor at the Permanent Representation of Türkiye to the United Nations Office in Geneva, and from 2000 to 2002, he served as First Counsellor at the Tehran Embassy.

In Ankara, he worked at the Council of Europe Department from 1981 to 1983 as Third Secretary and at the Human Rights Department from 1988 to 1990 as First Secretary. From 1994 to 1996, he was Head of Section at the Council of Europe Department. Between 2002 and 2003, he served as Head of the NATO Political Affairs Department, and from 2003 to 2004, he was Head of the Nuclear Disarmament Department. He was Deputy Director General for Arms Control and Disarmament between 2002 and 2006, and from 2011 to 2014, he served as Director General for International Security Affairs.

He represented Türkiye as Ambassador in Singapore from December 2006 to September 2009, in Ukraine from November 2009 to December 2011, and in Japan from March 2014 to December 2017. He is the author of a book titled The Soviet Concept of a Collective Security System in Asia and has published two articles: “İnsan Haklarının Dış Politika Stratejisindeki Yeri” in Strateji (April 1995) and “Devlet Olmayan Aktörlere Karşı Kuvvet Kullanılması: IŞİD ile Mücadele Örneği” in the 2021 issue of the Turkish Yearbook of International Relations. In addition, his doctoral dissertation, “Amerika Birleşik Devletleri ve Avrupa Birliği’nin Güvenlik Doktrinleri ve Dönüşen Dış Politika Araçları: Suriye Krizi Örneği,” completed at Ankara University, was later published as a book.

In 2023, Ambassador Meriç was honored with the Order of the Rising Sun by the Emperor of Japan. Having retired from active duty, he continues to contribute to think tanks and participates in television programs focusing on foreign policy.