Ahmet Üzümcü

UNIDIR Senior Fellow Ambassador (ret.) Ahmet Üzümcü is Vice-Chairman of the Board of the Global Relations Forum, Senior Fellow at the European Leadership Network and Senior Adviser with the Council on Strategic Risks. He was appointed Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in December 2009 and served in that role until July 2018.

He is a career diplomat with vast experience in multilateral diplomacy and disarmament and non-proliferation issues. Prior to joining the OPCW, he was Turkey’s Permanent Representative to the UN Office in Geneva, where he chaired the Conference on Disarmament in March 2008. Ambassador (R) Üzümcü has also served as Deputy Undersecretary of State for Bilateral Political Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Turkey’s Permanent Representative to NATO and Ambassador to Israel, in addition to earlier postings to NATO, Aleppo and Vienna. 

Ambassador Üzümcü received the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the OPCW in December 2013. In December 2015, H.E. Mr. Laurent Fabius, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development of France, decorated Director-General Üzümcü with the Légion d’honneur (rank of officer). In 2019, he was made honorary CMG, Order of St Michael and St George, by the British Government for his services to international diplomacy and the rule of law. During his tenure as Director-General of the OPCW, he was decorated by the Federal Republic of Germany and Austria for his contributions to the success of the OPCW. He was also recognized by honorary doctorates from four universities in the UK, Argentina, Russia and Italy. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations from Ankara University and speaks English and French fluently.