The Embassy of Turkey in Berlin

Gökhan Turan

H.E. Gökhan Turan was born in 1970. He completed his primary education in Germany (Duisburg) and continued his secondary schooling in the German section of Ankara Anadolu High School from 1983 to 1988. In 1992, he graduated with a degree in International Relations from the Faculty of Political Science at Ankara University. He later earned a master's degree in International Relations from the Middle East Technical University.

Ambassador Turan began his diplomatic career in 1992 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye. Over the years, he held various key positions, including in the departments of Consular Affairs, Information, Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and Central Asia, as well as in matters related to the Organization of Turkic States. Internationally, he served at the Turkish Consulate General in Almaty (1995–1997) and Stuttgart (1997–2000), and at the Turkish Embassies in Moscow (2002–2006 and 2012–2015), Warsaw (2010–2012), and Kyiv (2006–2008).

From 2015 to 2018, Ambassador Turan served as Deputy Director General for the South Caucasus and Central Asia at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was then appointed Ambassador of Türkiye to Lithuania, serving in Vilnius from December 2019 to January 2023. From February 2023 to January 2025, he returned to Ankara as Director General for Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and Central Asia, and later as Director General for the Organization of Turkic States.

By presidential decree on 11 January 2025, Ambassador Gökhan Turan was appointed Ambassador of the Republic of Türkiye to the Federal Republic of Germany. He officially assumed his duties on 31 January 2025.

Ambassador Turan speaks Turkish, German, English, and Russian. He is married and has two children.

Germany and Turkey enjoy an exceptionally close and wide-ranging relationship, which has stretched back over centuries. The nearly three million people of Turkish origin living in Germany act as an important factor in bilateral relations. Another factor is Turkey’s attractiveness as a travel and tourist destination (more than five million Germans visited the country in 2013). Both factors strongly influence the way in which the two nations see each other.

Germany has traditionally been held in high regard by Turkey. Relations between the two countries are friendly, wide-ranging and robust, which means that Turkey has very high expectations of Germany and German policy. Talks and consultations are held regularly at all levels, on a wide range of political and domestic policies, providing a sound basis for trustful and constructive cooperation even on controversial issues.

On the 12^th and 13^th of May 2013, a Strategic Dialogue was launched, which is designed to consolidate the existing intensive contacts between the two countries and place them on a new footing. The German-Turkish Strategic Dialogue includes annual meetings between the two foreign ministers and the setting up of a number of working groups at the level of senior government officials to address issues such as bilateral relations, security policy, combating terrorism, regional issues and Europe. At the most recent meeting between Turkish Prime Minister Davutoǧlu and Federal Chancellor Merkel in Berlin in January 2015, it was agreed to hold biennial intergovernmental consultations for the first time in 2016.

Turkey has been a candidate for EU membership since 1999. Accession negotiations started in 2005. In 1987, Turkey applied to join what was then the European Economic Community, and in 1997 it was declared eligible to join the EU. Turkey’s involvement with European integration dates back to 1959 and includes the Ankara Association Agreement (1963) for the progressive establishment of a Customs Union (ultimately set up in 1995). A Joint EU-Turkey Action Plan was agreed in October and was activated at the EU-Turkey Summit on 29th of November 2015. The Action Plan aims at bringing order in the migratory flows and stemming the influx of irregular migration. On the 24^th of November 2015 the Commission adopted a Commission Decision establishing a Turkey Refugee Facility which will pool 3 billion EUR additional resources.