Biography

OPCW Director-General H.E. Mr Ahmet Üzümcü

H.E. Mr Ahmet Üzümcü was appointed Director-General of the OPCW in December 2009 by the14th Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention andbegan his first term of office on 25 July 2010. He was reappointed for a second term at the 18thSession of the Conference of State Parties in December 2013. Immediately prior to his appointmentas OPCW Director-General, he served as the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Turkeyto the United Nations Office at Geneva.Ambassador Üzümcü is a career diplomat with vast experience in multilateral diplomacy. Duringthe past decade he has represented Turkey at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)Council, the Conference on Disarmament, the United Nations and other international organisationsin Geneva. Ambassador Üzümcü chaired the Conference on Disarmament for four weeks in March2008 and attended various disarmament-related meetings and conferences in Geneva, Brussels andelsewhere. He has a thorough understanding of and considerable expertise in political-militaryaffairs, disarmament and proliferation issues.Previously, Ambassador Üzümcü served as Deputy Undersecretary of State for Bilateral PoliticalAffairs at the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From June 2002 to August 2004, he was thePermanent Representative of Turkey to the NATO Council in Brussels. He held the post ofAmbassador of Turkey to Israel from 1999 to 2002. From 1996 to 1999, he headed the PersonnelDepartment at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ankara. Prior to that, he served in various posts atthe Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as at the Turkish delegation to NATO (1986-1989), theTurkish Embassy in Vienna (1979-1982) and as a Consul in Aleppo, Syria (1982-1984).In addition to his diplomatic experience, Ambassador Üzümcü served in an international capacity asa staff member of NATO’s Political Directorate from 1989 to 1994, where he contributed to workon NATO’s Partnership for Peace initiative in the immediate aftermath of the Cold War andtravelled extensively in Eastern European countries and the former USSR.Ambassador Üzümcü was born in Armutlu, Turkey on 30 August 1951 and holds a BachelorsDegree in International Relations with a specialisation in Public Administration from the Faculty ofPolitical Sciences, Ankara University. He speaks English and French fluently, is married and has adaughter.