Britain’s new Ambassador to Türkiye, Jennifer Anderson CMG, has formally taken up her post after presenting her credentials to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara.
Ambassador Anderson presented her letter of credence to President Erdoğan at the Presidential Complex on Tuesday, 8 September. She was one of five new ambassadors received by the Turkish leader, alongside the new envoys from Azerbaijan, Canada, Sweden and Thailand. Erdoğan subsequently held separate meetings with each ambassador.
Anderson succeeds Jill Morris and is no stranger to Türkiye, having previously served as Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy in Ankara between 2017 and 2020. She underwent full-time Turkish-language training before returning to Ankara to take up her new role.
Announcing her appointment earlier this summer, Anderson said she was “honoured and delighted” to be returning to Türkiye and would lead Britain’s delivery of the UK-Türkiye strategic partnership. Since arriving in Ankara, she has said she is looking forward to further strengthening the already close relationship between the two countries, highlighting aviation, trade and other priority areas for greater co-operation.
The experienced diplomat joined Britain’s Foreign Office in 1997. Her previous senior roles include Director of Consular and Crisis at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Head of the Foreign Office’s Counter-Terrorism Department and British High Commissioner to Botswana. She was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 2024 for services to British foreign policy and British nationals overseas.
Her appointment has received a particularly warm endorsement from Sir Richard Moore, the former British Ambassador to Ankara and former head of MI6, under whom Anderson served as deputy.
Moore described it as a “great appointment”, saying Anderson had been his “superb deputy”, knows Türkiye well and is a “humane and intelligent leader”. He predicted she would build on Jill Morris’s work to further the important UK-Türkiye partnership.
Anderson has made clear that familiarity with Türkiye will be an asset in her new role. On returning to Ankara last month, she said she was delighted to be back and eager to deepen and broaden bilateral ties, signing off her first message from the Turkish capital with a cheerful “Hoşbulduk!”
