Mark Parris was United States ambassador to Turkey from 1997 to 2000. He has also served as deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in Israel and political counselor at the U.S. embassy in Moscow. During the Clinton administration, he was special assistant to the president and senior director for the Near East and South Asia at the National Security Council.
Now senior foreign policy advisor at the Washington law firm of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, and Caldwell, he joined The Washington Institute as counselor to its Turkish Research Program in January 2002. Ambassador Parris chairs the American Friends of Turkey and serves on the executive board of the American Turkish Council. He speaks and writes frequently on U.S.-Turkish foreign policy issues.
