CIL Distinguished Speaker Series

ABOUT THE SPEAKER Mr. Mehmet Burçin Gönenli, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to the Republic of Singapore is a career diplomat with 25 years of experience in bilateral and multilateral diplomacy.

He joined the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1995. He served at the Turkish Embassies in Poland and Azerbaijan between 1999-2003. Mr. Gönenli attended the NATO Defence College in Rome, before returning to the General Directorate for International Security Affairs at the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as a First Secretary. He served at the Turkish Permanent Representation to NATO between September 2005 and October 2009, as a First Secretary and then Counsellor.

Mr. Gönenli was assigned as the Head of Department for Afghanistan and Pakistan at the Deputy Directorate General for South Asia of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (October 2009 – September 2011). Between September 2011-September 2015 Mr. Gönenli was once again posted to the Turkish Permanent Representation at NATO as Defence Counsellor.

Mr. Gönenli returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ankara in September 2015 as the Head of Department for NATO and Euro-Atlantic Security and Defence Affairs. In December 2017 he was appointed as the Deputy Director General for NATO and Euro-Atlantic Security and Defence Affairs until his assignment as the Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to the Republic of Singapore in April 2021.

Mr. Gönenli holds a Bachelor’s Degree of Science in international relations from the Faculty of Administration and Political Sciences of the Middle East Technical University. He speaks English and has basic knowledge of French and Polish. He was born in Ankara, Turkey in 1973. He is married to Anetta Afekt Gönenli. They have a daughter and a son.