Timur Göksel

Timur Göksel (3 May 1943 – 2 February 2021) was a Turkish diplomat who served as Spokesman and Senior Advisor to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) from 1978 to 2003. Göksel started his 35-year career with the United Nations (UN) in 1968 as an Information Assistant in the Ankara Information Office. Ten years later, he was posted to UNIFIL in Naqoura, Lebanon, where he remained in service until his retirement in 2003.

During his time with UNIFIL, Göksel was instrumental in establishing communication and trust among various conflicting parties in southern Lebanon, including Israeli and Lebanese forces, as well as local communities and militias. In 1996, British journalist Michael Bywater wrote, "Choking on hatred and confusion as old as the grave, no one in that deadly buffer of stony soil between Israel and Lebanon trusted anyone else," but Göksel "ran a bullshit-free zone."

Early life Göksel was born on May 3, 1943 in Ankara, Turkey and spent his early childhood there. He spent part of his teenage years in Washington, DC, where his father served as the Air Attaché at the Turkish Embassy. He completed high school in Ankara and earned his bachelors in public administration and international relations at the Middle East Technical University.

In 1995, he was appointed Senior Adviser to UNIFIL in addition to his role as Spokesman (1995–2003). where he was a graduate-level lecturer in Conflict Management in the Middle East. From 2012 to 2020, he remained in Beirut, becoming a founding editor of Al-Monitor’s coverage of events in Turkey.