Director General for International Security Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ankara

Tacan Ildem was born in 1956 in Ankara. He graduated from the Faculty of Political Science, University of Ankara. In 1978 he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). In 1980 he served in the Military service as Deputy Special Advisor for Foreign Policy to the Secretary- General of the National Security Council. In 1981 he became the Second and later First Secretary at the Turkish Delegation to the North Atlantic Council in Brussels. In 1989 he worked as the Political Counselor at the Turkish Embassy in Washington D.C. In 2000 he became the Special Advisor to the Undersecretary of the MFA (briefly), then Chief of Cabinet and Principal Foreign Policy Advisor to the President of the Republic of Turkey.