Şükrü Elekdağ Explained

Şükrü Elekdağ
Order:Member of the Grand National Assembly
Term Start:3 November 2002
Term End:12 June 2011
Constituency:Istanbul (III) (2002, 2007)
Order2:Ambassador of Turkey to Japan
Term Start2:1970
Term End2:1974
President2:Fahri S. Korutürk
Predecessor2:Turgud Aytuğ
Successor2:Celal Eyicioğlu
Order3:Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affair
Term Start3:1974
Term End3:1979
President3:Fahri S. Korutürk
Order4:Ambassador of Turkey to the United States
Term Start4:1979
Term End4:1989
President4:Fahri S. Korutürk
Kenan Evren
Predecessor4:Melih Esenbel
Successor4:Nüzhet Kandemir
Birth Name:Mustafa Şükrü Elekdağ
Birth Date:1924 9, df=yes
Birth Place:Istanbul, Turkey
Party:Republican People's Party
Alma Mater:Istanbul Higher Education School of Economics and Commerce (BA)
University of Paris (PgD, MEc)
Profession:Diplomat, academician, politician
Children:4
Spouse:Ayla Elekdağ

Mustafa Şükrü Elekdağ (pronounced as /tr/; born 29 September 1924) is a Turkish diplomat, academician, and politician.

He graduated from Galatasaray High School and received his undergraduate from Istanbul Higher Education School of Economics and Commerce, which is the precursor of Marmara University. He earned a postgraduate degree and became Master of Economics from the University of Paris with the help of a scholarship from the French government.

He served as the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ambassador of Turkey to Japan (1970–1974), and the United States (1979–1989).[1] He was also the Member of Parliament (2002–2011) from the Republican People's Party.[2]

He was one of the prepotent foreign policymakers of Turkey in the 1990s. In 1994, he wrote the 2½ War Strategy about Turkey's neighborhood relations and national security policy.[3] He was a senior lecturer at Bilkent University between 1990–2002 and gave lectures about strategy, Turkish foreign policy, and security.[4]

Elekdağ has played an important role in Turkey's Armenian genocide denial efforts.[5] In 1982, he claimed that Turkey had not threatened the lives of Jews due to the inclusion of the Armenian genocide in the program of the International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide in Tel Aviv.[6] This claim was false.[7] Historian Taner Akçam describes Elekdag's policy on the Armenian Genocide as "extreme nationalist and aggressive denial".[8]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Embassy History and Previous Ambassadors . Embassy of the Republic of Turkey, Washington, the United States of America . 22 July 2011.
  2. Web site: Mustafa Şükrü Elekdağ . Grand National Assembly of Turkey . 22 July 2011.
  3. Web site: 2½ War Strategy . Elekdağ, Şükrü . Center for Strategic Research . 22 July 2011.
  4. Web site: 2009-09-28 . Hakkında . 2022-08-31 . Dr. Şükrü M. Elekdağ Bakış. tr-TR.
  5. Hovannisian . Richard G. . Denial of the Armenian Genocide 100 Years Later: The New Practitioners and Their Trade . Genocide Studies International . 2015 . 9 . 2 . 228–247 . 10.3138/gsi.9.2.04. 155132689 .
  6. Book: Auron, Yair. Yair Auron. The Banality of Denial: Israel and the Armenian Genocide. Rutgers University Press. 2003. 0-7658-0834-X. 221.
  7. Ben Aharon . Eldad . A Unique Denial: Israel's Foreign Policy and the Armenian Genocide . British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies . 2015 . 42 . 4 . 638–654 . 10.1080/13530194.2015.1043514. 218602513 .
  8. News: Approaching 2015: How to Assess Erdoğan's Statement on the Armenian Genocide? . 24 January 2021 . E-International Relations . 4 June 2014.