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THE WHITE HOUSE

                        Office of the Press Secretary 
                      (Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts)

For Immediate Release August 29, 1997

                    PRESIDENT NAMES MARK ROBERT PARRIS AS 
                     AMBASSADOR TO THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY

The President today announced his intention to nominate Mark Robert Parris, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Turkey.

Mr. Parris, of Virginia, served until April of this year as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Near East and South Asian Affairs at the National Security Council. Before joining the NSC staff in March, 1995, Mr. Parris was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs. He has also served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel, from 1989-1992 as Director of the State Department's Office of Soviet Affairs from 1985-1988 and as Political Counselor in Moscow.

Mr. Parris entered the Foreign Service in 1972. He served from 1973-1977 in the Azores and in Lisbon. He subsequently held a number of positions in the Bureau of European Affairs, including that of Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary. In 1988-1989, Mr. Parris participated in the Department of State's Senior Seminar. He has earned the Department's Superior Honor Award twice and the Presidential Meritorious Honor Award on three occasions.

He graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in 1972 as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He has served on the policy boards of the Una Chapman Cox Foundation and of the U.S. - Israel Education Foundation. Mr. Parris speaks Russian, Portuguese, French and some Hebrew.
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