Kemal Kavur

Kemal Nijat Kavur (1907, Istanbul – 1975, Istanbul) was a Turkish diplomat.

Kemal N. Kavur was educated at the Lycee Galatasay, where he also excelled as a football player, and went on to study at Faculty Political Science (Mulkiye) in Ankara. He did his post-graduate degree at University of Berlin, specialisizing in Public International Law. He then joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kemal Ataturk's newly formed Turkish Republic, quickly rising within it, soon serving as Charge d'Affaires at the Berlin embassy, to [...]'s Germany. After the war, Kavur was appointed ambassador to Helsinki, Finland, where his son Celal was born in 1949. Kavur then served as ambassador in Sofia, Bulgaria. This was followed by five years in Moscow- a most challenging ambassadorial posting, under Nikita Krushchev at the height of the Cold War (1955-60). Kavur then became ambassador to Tokyo, Japan (1960-62), and to London (1962-64). He finally retired after serving as ambassador (1964-69) in Bern, Switzerland.

Kemal N. Kavur was an "old school" diplomat, believing totally in savoir-faire and building bridges, while his guiding force was the love of his country and freedom and democracy. In this respect, Kavur's work as a diplomat was most important to the NATO alliance, serving in Bulgaria and Soviet Union.

References

• International Who's Who
• Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• The Diplomat