lit a candle 3h agoHeard it on the radio between stories about the flooding in Juba. Our church sponsors a mission there and we'd read his name before, the Turkish ambassador. 59 is no age at all.
Their story
Metin Ergin was a Turkish career diplomat who served his country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for more than three decades and, at the time of his death, was Turkiye's ambassador to South Sudan. Over a career that began in 1992, he represented Turkiye as consul general in Mostar, Bosnia and…
Metin Ergin was a Turkish career diplomat who served his country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for more than three decades and, at the time of his death, was Turkiye's ambassador to South Sudan. Over a career that began in 1992, he represented Turkiye as consul general in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in Antwerp, Belgium, before being given his own embassy in Juba in 2024.
He was born in Istanbul in 1967. He entered the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1992, joining a diplomatic service in which he would spend the rest of his working life, and served in a series of postings at home and abroad.
His consular work took him to two very different cities. In Mostar he represented Turkiye in a city still marked by the Bosnian War of the 1990s, and in Antwerp he headed the consulate general serving one of the larger Turkish communities in Belgium.
In November 2024 he took up his post as Turkiye's ambassador to South Sudan, presenting his credentials to President Salva Kiir Mayardit at the presidency in Juba. Speaking to the Anadolu Agency afterwards, he said Turkiye was determined to develop its relations with South Sudan and to stand with both Sudan and South Sudan during a difficult period. During his tenure he worked on cooperation in economic development, humanitarian aid and security, including talks on Turkish support for police training ahead of South Sudan's elections planned for December 2026, and on development and visa agreements, alongside the work of the Turkish aid agency TIKA.
Metin Ergin died on Monday 2 November 2026, aged 59. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced his death the following day without giving the cause or circumstances. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan paid tribute to an ambassador who had served the country with dedication for 35 years, and South Sudan's foreign ministry called him a great friend of South Sudan whose passing was a profound loss to the diplomatic community. A ceremony was arranged at the ministry in Ankara on 5 November, followed by funeral prayers at the Hasan Tanik Mosque, with burial at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery in Istanbul on 6 November.
Biography adapted from Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement, Sudans Post, Radio Tamazuj, Eye Radio, CNN Turk and Anadolu Agency reports.
Photos
1Metin Ergin, Turkiye's ambassador to South Sudan
by People Forever
I remember that credentials ceremony being on the news too. Sad.