{"record":{"aliases":["İsmail Feridun Cemal Erkin"],"appointmentIds":["turkey-ff90f8b55a4c7e"],"appointmentsDataset":"https://chanceries.org/diplomats.json","archivalSources":["erkin-security","erkin-command"],"canonicalUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/feridun-cemal-erkin-f3e7a76456/","countrySlug":"turkey","entityId":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/feridun-cemal-erkin-f3e7a76456/#person","eventIds":[],"expandedParagraphs":["Feridun Cemal Erkin was born in Istanbul in 1899 and studied at Galatasaray and the Paris law faculty. His early work included the Ottoman Public Debt Administration and the Turkish delegation to the mixed population exchange commission. Diplomatic assignments in London and Berlin preceded senior posts in Ankara and an ambassadorship in Rome.","Appointed to Washington in 1948, Erkin pressed for a formal American security commitment. After Türkiye’s initial effort to enter NATO failed, he proposed in January 1951 that the United States join the 1939 British–French–Turkish mutual assistance treaty.","As accession approached, Erkin also contested proposals that might divide Turkish territory between separate military commands. In November 1951 he told Assistant Secretary George McGhee that Ankara wanted the whole country under the Supreme Allied Commander Europe. McGhee reassured him that Türkiye would enter with full and equal rights and that command arrangements would be discussed before a final decision.","Erkin later represented Türkiye in Madrid, Paris, and London, and served as foreign minister from 1962 to 1965. His published recollections, Dışişlerinde 34 Yıl, include substantial volumes on the Washington ambassadorship as well as his later European postings."],"id":"turkey:feridun-cemal-erkin","identifiers":{},"legacyPersonIds":[],"legacyUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplomat-f3e7a764563c71257e09.html","name":"Feridun Cemal Erkin","notes":[],"paragraphSources":[["erkin-mfa"],["erkin-security"],["erkin-command"],["erkin-mfa","erkin-memoirs"]],"profileUrl":"diplomat-f3e7a764563c71257e09.html","relatedEvents":[{"basis":"tenure-overlap","country":"Türkiye","date":"1952-02-18","description":"Türkiye joined NATO on February 18, 1952, alongside Greece in the alliance’s first enlargement. Two days later, Foreign Minister Mehmet Fuat Köprülü represented Türkiye at the North Atlantic Council’s welcome in Lisbon.","id":"nato-1952","note":"Named people and the recorded mission tenure provide the connection; overlap does not establish personal participation.","sourceUrls":["https://www.nato.int/en/about-us/nato-history/history-by-theme/my-country-and-nato/tuerkiye-and-nato"],"title":"Türkiye joins NATO","url":"Turkey.html#history-nato-1952"}],"relatedPeople":[{"certainty":"documented","name":"Melih Esenbel","note":"Esenbel followed up with the State Department at Erkin's request during the January 1951 security-treaty discussion.","profileUrl":"diplomat-4298478f100d9fbedc6b.html","sourceIds":["erkin-security"],"targetId":"turkey:melih-esenbel","type":"served_with"}],"relationships":[{"certainty":"documented","note":"Esenbel followed up with the State Department at Erkin's request during the January 1951 security-treaty discussion.","sourceIds":["erkin-security"],"targetId":"turkey:melih-esenbel","type":"served_with"}],"researchStatus":"reviewed","reviewedOn":"2026-10-28","revision":"e861e3107a7f086d","sources":[{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":null,"id":"erkin-mfa","locator":"Relevant section read in full","publisher":"Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs","title":"Feridun Cemal Erkin: official biography","type":"official-biography","url":"https://www.mfa.gov.tr/sayin-feridun-cemal-erkin_in-ozgecmisi.tr.mfa"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":null,"id":"erkin-security","locator":"Complete memorandum including Esenbel's follow-up","publisher":"U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian","title":"Turkish proposal for U.S. adherence to the 1939 mutual-assistance treaty, 24 January 1951","type":"archival-record","url":"https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1951v05/d637"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":null,"id":"erkin-command","locator":"Complete memorandum","publisher":"U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian","title":"Conversation on NATO command arrangements, 26 November 1951","type":"archival-record","url":"https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1951v03p1/d334"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":null,"id":"erkin-memoirs","locator":"Full indexed catalogue record: component volumes, publication years and contents; direct retrieval timed out","publisher":"Turkish Historical Society Library","title":"Dışişlerinde 34 yıl: catalogue record","type":"library-catalogue","url":"https://kutuphane.ttk.gov.tr/details?id=495535&materialType=KT&query=Erkin%2C+Feridun+Cemal."},{"accessedOn":"","date":"Accessed 23 October 2026","id":"mission-8640388fff0b15c07ec2","locator":"Full displayed historical chronology 1867–2024; current chancery commissioned 1997, completed/used 1999, inaugurated April 23, 1999.","publisher":"","title":"Mission history and former chiefs of mission","type":"Mission record","url":"https://washington-emb.mfa.gov.tr/Mission/MissionChiefHistory"}],"topics":["NATO accession","security guarantees","foreign minister","memoirs"]},"schemaVersion":1}