Selim Kuneralp was born in Prague (Czechia) on 9 July 1951. He was educated at the Lycée Saint-Joseph (Istanbul) and the London School of Economics. In 1973 Selim Kuneralp joined the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He served at Turkish Missions in New York, Geneva, Cyprus and the European Union. Selim Kuneralp also worked as an international civil servant at the GATT Secretariat in Geneva. He was Ambassador to Sweden, Korea, the European Union and the WTO as well as Deputy Secretary-General of the Energy Charter.