Ambassador Klaus Scharioth is a former German Diplomat, Dean of the Mercator Fellowship on International Affairs and Professor of Practice at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Medford, Massachusetts, USA and is a member of the International Advisory Council of Istanbul Policy Center-Sabancı University-Stiftung Mercator Initative.
From 2006 to 2011, he served as Germany’s Ambassador to the United States. From 2002 until March 2006, Ambassador Scharioth served as State Secretary, the highest civil service post in the German Foreign Office. During his long career at the Ministry, Scharioth served as Head of the Defense and Security Policy Division, Head of the International Security and North America Directorate, and Political Director and Head of the Political Directorate-General. In 1993, he was appointed Chef de Cabinet (Director of the Private Office) to the NATO Secretary-General in Brussels, working there until 1996 with Secretaries General Wörner, Claes and Solana. Furthermore, he served the German Foreign Service in Quito, Ecuador, was a member of the Policy Planning Staff at the German Foreign Office and served at the German Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York City.
Klaus Scharioth holds honorary doctoral degrees from the College of Idaho, Chatham University and Old Dominion University. From 1973 to 1975, he studied International Relations, International Law, and International Finance and Economics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Harvard Law School and the John F. Kennedy School of Government, receiving MA, MALD, and PhD degrees in 1974, 1975 and 1978 respectively from these institutions. From 1968 to 1973, Scharioth studied Law in Bonn, Geneva, and Freiburg.
Welcoming Event for the 2012/13 Mercator – IPC Fellows
On September 25, 2012 the welcoming event for the first Mercator-IPC Fellows took place in Istanbul. The event opened with the warm welcoming remarks of Nihat Berker, President of Sabanci University, Bernhard Lorentz, President of Stifung Mercator, and Fuat Keyman, IPC Director. Mercator-IPC Senior Fellow Cem Özdemir, Co-Chairman of the German green party “Alliance 90/The Greens”, gave a keynote speech entitled “Europe at the Crossroads: Why Turkey Matters”. Subsequently, the 2012/13 Mercator – IPC Fellows were introduced through short video clips.
The ensuing panel discussion, entitled “A Silver Lining: German – Turkish Cooperation in Turbulent Times,” offered an intellectually stimulating debate between Kemal Dervis, Member of the IPC Executive Board and Vice President of the Brookings Institution, Ömer Madra, Mercator – IPC Senior Fellow and Co-Founder of Acik Radyo, Secil Pacaci Elitok, Mercator – IPC Fellow, and Ambassador Klaus Scharioth (ret.), Dean of the Mercator Fellowship on International Affairs and Member of the IPC’s International Advisory Council. The discussion was chaired by Ayse Kadioglu, Senior Scholar at IPC and Professor at Sabanci University.
