Bülend Uşaklıgil

Bülend Uşaklıgil came from a family closely connected with Turkish literature and journalism: his father was the novelist Halit Ziya Uşaklıgil, and his daughter Emine became a journalist. He attended Galatasaray and studied political science at George Washington University. His diplomatic service included Copenhagen, Cairo, and Paris. ^{1, 2}

Before becoming ambassador in Washington, he helped arrange practical aspects of the American naval presence in Turkish ports. In April 1950, as director general of the foreign ministry’s First Department, he agreed by telephone with American counselor Warwick Perkins to allow up to three major U.S. fleet visits a year to Istanbul or İzmir. The arrangement left existing provisions for smaller vessels unchanged. ³

He served in Washington from 1960 to 1962, then moved to the Paris embassy. The Galatasaray biographical collection dates his return from Paris to January 1965 and attributes it to a disagreement with Foreign Minister Feridun Cemal Erkin. Uşaklıgil died in June 1977. ^{1, 2}