U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday picked Tom Barrack, businessperson and the chair of his 2017 inaugural committee, as the next ambassador to Türkiye.
"I am pleased to announce that Tom Barrack will serve as our next Ambassador to Türkiye," Trump said in a statement.
"For three decades, Tom successfully managed a global private equity firm. He is a well-respected and experienced voice of reason to a wide range of thought leaders in both political and business circles," he added.
Barrack, 77, grandson of Lebanese immigrants to Los Angeles, was born and raised in southern California. A graduate of the University of Southern California and the University of San Diego School of Law, Barrack founded private equity firm Colony Capital in 1991.
According to Forbes, the contrarian real estate investor has built his fortune through buying out-of-favor assets, including $200 million in Middle East real estate and $524 million in non-performing German real estate loans.
Barrack is a longtime friend of the Republican president-elect. He was also previously charged with unlawfully acting as an agent of the United Arab Emirates during the Trump administration and then making false statements to the FBI. He was acquitted in 2022 of all nine counts he faced.
If confirmed by the Senate, Barrack will succeed Ambassador Jeff Flake, who served from January 2022 to September 2024.
Barrack's appointment comes at a pivotal time for U.S.-Türkiye relations. The ties have been strained by several disagreements, including over U.S. support for the YPG in Syria a group Ankara considers an extension of the PKK terror organization, and Türkiye's acquisition of Russia's S-400 missile defense system, which led to the country's removal from the F-35 program and sanctions by Washington against Ankara.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was one of the first leaders to congratulate Trump on his victory on election night and spoke to him over the phone the following day.
Calling the president-elect a "friend," Erdoğan expressed a desire to strengthen cooperation and urged Trump to fulfill his pledge to end Israel's wars on Gaza and Lebanon, as well as the Russian war on Ukraine.