Egemen Bağış

Ambassador H.E. Egemen Bağış, born in Bingöl, Turkiye in 1970, has studied at Bernard M. Baruch College of the City University of New York, where he received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Human Resources Management (1993) and his Master of Public Administration degree (1996). He received his PhD degree in Management at Istanbul Aydin University (2024) with his thesis on the decision making process of the European Union.

While living in the U.S. he served as the president of the Federation of Turkish American Associations and returned to Turkiye in 2002 upon invitation from the Founder and Chairman of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to play a strategic role in developing the foreign policy of the party. Bağış was elected to the Turkish Parliament representing Istanbul and served as chief foreign policy advisor of the AK Party chairman and prime minister Erdoğan. In 2007, he was re-elected to the Parliament and served as AK Party’s vice-chairman in charge of international relations. In 2009, he was appointed as a state minister and the chief negotiator, and in 2011, he was re-elected to the Parliament for his third term and served as the founding Minister of Turkiye’s very first European Union Affairs Ministry and the chief negotiator.

Additionally Mr Bağış served as the chairperson of the Turkiye-USA Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Caucus and the president of the Transatlantic Committee for the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.

Mr Bağış was named 'Young Global Leader' by the World Economic Forum in 2010. As part of his efforts to promote arts, he led the formation of Istanbul Modern and Santral Istanbul Silahtarağa Museums. He has also served as chairman of the Advisory Board of Istanbul Culture Capital of Europe initiative in 2010 and Istanbul Sports Capital of Europe initiative in 2012.

Furthermore in the world of academia, he served as the chairman of Occidental Studies Centre & Western Platform at the Istanbul Aydın University where he taught graduate students between 2016 and 2019.

Most recently, he was the ambassador of the Republic of Turkiye to the Czech Republic in Prague for five years between 2019 and 2024. Ambassador Bağış continues to serve the Turkish Foreign Ministry at large and represents his Ministry and Turkiye at various international institutions as a special envoy as well as a guest speaker at global political and academic platforms. He is also currently a member of the High Level Advisory Council at the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations.

Ambassador Bağış during his long career in politics and diplomacy has been presented with countless awards and merits including the 'Cavaliere' Order of Merit in 2006 and the 'Commendatore' in 2011 from the Italian government.

He is married to Ms Beyhan N. Bağış and they have two children.