Vehbi Esgel Etensel

Etensel was born in Brussels in 1963. He graduated from Ankara Tevfik Fikret High School in 1981 and subsequently received a scholarship from the French Government. Etensel completed his education in the Economics Department at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Grenoble University in 1987. In 2002, he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Defence Studies in London.

Etensel joined the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1988. His early assignments included roles at the Turkish Permanent Delegation to NATO (1991–1994), the Turkish Embassies in Havana (1994–1996), and London (1998–2002). From 2005 to 2009, he served as First Counselor at the Turkish Permanent Mission to the United Nations Office in Geneva.

Upon returning to Ankara, Etensel led the Policy Planning Division as Head of department before establishing the Translation Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in January 2011. He served as the head of this department until mid-February 2013.

In February 2013, Etensel was appointed as the Ambassador of Türkiye to the Republic of Guinea, serving until August 2015. He then served as the Ambassador to the Republic of Guatemala (with accreditation to Belize,^[2] Honduras, and El Salvador) from September 2015 to November 2017. During his tenure in Guatemala, he was awarded the Order of the Quetzal in the Grade of Grand Cross.^[3]

Etensel returned to Ankara to lead the Translation Department for over three years. In February 2021, he was appointed as Ambassador to the Republic of Cuba (with accreditation to the Commonwealth of the Bahamas and Jamaica^[4]) by Presidential Decree number 2021/113. He assumed his duties in Havana on 3 April 2021.