Carl Henrik Sihver Liljegren (born 17 April 1936) is a Swedish diplomat and author.
Liljegren was born on 17 April 1936 in Tallinn, Estonia, the son of Edmund Sihver, a civil engineer, and his wife Eva Liljegren, née Kjellberg.[1] He received a Candidate of Law degree from Stockholm University in 1960.[1]
Liljegren was hired as an attaché by the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1960 and served as in Tokyo in 1961, as vice consul in Berlin in 1963, and as consul there in 1964. He served at the Foreign Ministry in Stockholm in 1966 and as a desk officer (departementssekreterare) there in 1968. Liljegren was first embassy secretary at the OECD delegation in Paris in 1970, served as deputy director (kansliråd) in the political department at the Foreign Ministry in 1975, and as director (departementsråd) in 1979.[1]
Liljegren served as ambassador in Ankara from 1981 to 1985, in East Berlin from 1985 to 1989, in Brussels from 1989 to 1992 and in Washington D.C. from 1993 to 1997.[1] Between 1997 and 1998 he was the consul general in Istanbul and from 1998 until his retirement in 2001 he again served as ambassador to Turkey in Ankara. He is the author of From Tallinn to Turkey - as a Swede and Diplomat[2] and he is a lifetime director of the Atlantic Council.[3]
In 1984, Liljegren married Nil Kirectepe (née Ilden), the daughter of minister Nevit Ilden and Murassa (née Tamtekin).[1]