Alp Mehmet
Alp Mehmet (born Alper Mehmet, 28 August 1948) is a former British diplomat and one of the United Kingdom's first two ethnic minority ambassadors, along with Anwar Choudhury.
Early life
Mehmet arrived in the United Kingdom from Cyprus in 1956 when he was aged eight, as a British citizen but unable to speak English.[1] He was educated at Parmiter's Grammar School near London, and at Bristol Polytechnic (now the University of the West of England).
Career
On graduation from Bristol, he became an immigration officer (1970–79) and then an entry clearance officer in Lagos, Nigeria (1979–83). In 1983, he entered Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service, serving in Romania, Germany and Iceland (twice) and leaving in 2008. When he was appointed as Ambassador to Iceland in 2004, he became one of the first two British ambassadors from ethnic minority backgrounds to be appointed (the other being Anwar Choudhury, who was appointed High Commissioner to Bangladesh).[2] He sits on the advisory council of MigrationWatch UK.[3]
References
- MEHMET, Alper, Who's Who 2013, A & C Black, 2013; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012
| Diplomatic posts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Ambassador to Iceland 2004–2008 |
Succeeded by Ian Whitting |
