Now it's official. Zelensky appointed Dzhelal as ambassador to Turkey
On Wednesday, May 14, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree appointing Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, former Kremlin prisoner Nariman Dzhelal as Ukraine's ambassador to Turkey. The relevant document was published on the website of the Presidential Office.
"To appoint Dzhelialov Nariman Enverovych as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Turkey," reads Decree No. 305/2025.
on December 20, 2024, Zelenskyy announced the appointment of Celal as ambassador to Turkey as part of a large rotation. However, the decree was not signed and made public at the time.
Dzhelial is a Ukrainian Crimean Tatar politician, teacher, political scientist and journalist, since 2013 – Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people.
In September 2021, the Russians detained Dzhelial in the temporarily occupied Crimea and accused him of sabotage (blowing up a section of the gas pipeline near Simferopol). In 2022, the occupiers sentenced him to 17 years.
In June 2024, he was returned to Ukraine from Russian captivity.
- on April 7, 2025, Zelenskyy appointed former Prosecutor General Kostin as Ambassador to the Netherlands and Ukraine's representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
- On the same day, President signed decrees appointing ambassadors to China, Norway, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Paraguay, and Finland.
