Sönmez Köksal (born 1940) graduated from Ankara University’s School of Political Science. Having started his diplomatic career at the UN Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he served as Second Secretary at the Department of Bilateral Economic Relations, First Secretary at the Turkish Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Section Director at the Department of Bilateral Economic Relations, Consul-General to Burgas, Chargé d’Affaires at the Turkish Embassy in Paris, Head of Research and the Middle East Department, Deputy Director-General for International Economic Relations, Ambassador to Baghdad and Permanent Representative of Türkiye to the Council of Europe. Köksal was appointed as Undersecretary on 9 November 1992 and left the Organization on 11 February 1998 to become Ambassador to Paris.