Zelenskyy appoints new ambassador to Turkey
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday, May 14, appointed Nariman Dzhelyal as Ukraine’s ambassador to Turkey, according to the presidential website.
Dzhelyal, who has served as deputy head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People since 2013, was returned to Ukraine from Russian captivity on June 29, 2024.
In December 2024, news reports noted that Zelenskyy had approved the appointment of more than 30 new ambassadors, with Dzhelyal among them.
Previously, Ukraine’s ambassador to Turkey was Vasyl Bodnar. Bodnar, who had been in the role since 2021, was reassigned as ambassador to Poland in September 2024. The seasoned diplomat served as Deputy Foreign Minister starting in 2017, was an adviser at Ukraine’s embassy in Turkey from 2013 to 2015 and later served as Consul–General in Istanbul for two years.
Nariman Dzhelyal is a leading figure in the Crimean Tatar national movement as well as a historian, political scientist and journalist. In September 2021, after the Crimean Platform political summit, Russian security forces detained him and charged him with “participating in an act of sabotage as part of an organized group.” In September 2022, he was sentenced to 17 years in prison.
Zelenskyy will lead the Ukrainian delegation during the upcoming direct negotiations with Russia in Istanbul on May 15. Although it’s unclear if Russian dictator Vladimir Putin will attend, Zelenskyy plans to at least meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
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