This is historical material, "frozen in time." The web site is no longer updated and links to external web sites and some internal pages will not work.

THE WHITE HOUSE

                     Office of the Press Secretary
                (Shanghai, People's Republic of China)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                      June 30, 1998

            PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES ROBERT PATRICK JOHN FINN AS
               U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE REPUBLIC OF TAJIKISTAN

The President today announced his intent to nominate Robert Patrick John Finn to be U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Tajikistan.

Mr. Robert Finn, of New York, New York, is a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Counselor. He has been serving as Deputy Chief of Mission at the American Embassy in Zagreb, Croatia since July 1995. In 1992, he opened the American Embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan, serving there as Charg' d'Affaires and Deputy Chief of Mission. In 1991, he served as Director of the American Embassy office in Diyarbakir, Turkey during the initial months of Operation Provide Comfort and was a Deputy Coordinator of the Kuwait Task Force at the Department of State during the Gulf War. He also served as Deputy Principal Officer at the American Consulate General in Lahore, Pakistan from 1984-1986. He has had several different tours in Ankara, Istanbul, and Izmir, Turkey, serving as Special Assistant to two different ambassadors. In the Department of State, he has worked on African affairs and in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. He served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Turkey from 1967 to 1969, and was a Fulbright Scholar at the Turkiyat Institute of Istanbul University in Turkey from 1976 to 1977. His publications include a book, The Early Turkish Novel: 1872-1900, and poems, articles, and translations in English and Turkish. He speaks Azerbaijani, Urdu, Persian, German, Ottoman, Turkish, and French. Mr. Finn holds the 1994 Baker-Wilkins Award for Outstanding Deputy Chief of Mission, the 1992 Exceptional Intelligence Collector Award from the Central Intelligence Agency, a 1988 State Department Award for Heroism, a Superior Honor Award, a Meritorious Honor Award, and three Group Superior Honor Awards.

Mr. Finn has a B.A. in American Literature and European History with Honors from St. John's University, an M.A. in Near Eastern Studies from New York University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University.

-30-30-30-