Timur Goksel obituary: Skilled diplomat known as ‘Mr Unifil’

Timur Goksel
Born: May 3rd, 1943
Died: February 3rd, 2021

Former senior adviser and spokesman of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon Timur Goksel died in Beirut on February 3rd at the age of 76.

Known as “Mr Unifil,” Goksel, a Turkish national who dodged bullets and bombs during 24 years with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil), succumbed to Covid-19.

Born in 1943 in Ankara, educated in the US and Turkey, Goksel spent a decade in the UN information office in the Turkish capital before he was sent in 1979 to Lebanon while the country was gripped by civil war.

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He arrived at Unifil headquarters at Ras al-Naqoura a year after Irish and other foreign troops deployed to confirm Israel’s withdrawal from south Lebanon and keep the peace among warring Israelis, Palestinians, and pro- and anti-Israeli Lebanese militias.

Since Unifil was still shaping its mission, Goksel was able to create a role for himself as spokesman and unofficial contact with local communities and Palestinian and Lebanese militias friendly to the force.

“Unifil was surrounded by wars – three or four at a time,” Goksel said. The Israelis left behind the surrogate South Lebanon Army commanded by a hostile Saad Haddad who established a border enclave and obstructed and shot at Unifil.

Without seeking permission from New York, Goksel and Unifil volunteers ran convoys to the beach in the coastal city of Tyre

In April 1980, five Irish soldiers, the first of Ireland’s Unifil fatalities, were slain by Haddad’s militia. The Israelis returned, occupied Unifil’s operational area, and controlled its activities. Unifil personnel had to be accompanied by Israelis when they moved around, making the situation “uncomfortable,” Goksel said.

In June 1982 Israel invaded Lebanon to expel Palestinian fighters from the south, violating the ceasefire imposed in August 1981. Hundreds of Israeli tanks and 172,000 Israeli troops breached Unifil lines, flattened roadblocks set up by peacekeepers, and made for Beirut. Warned by the build-up in northern Israel, Unifil commander, Ireland’s Lieut Gen William Callaghan could do nothing to prevent or halt the all-out offensive which tore through urban areas.

Without seeking permission from New York, Goksel and Unifil volunteers ran convoys to the beach in the coastal city of Tyre where thousands of civilians took refuge after being driven from their homes. Israel complained that Unifil was operating outside its area but the convoys continued.

Goksel used to say peacekeepers are humanitarians with guns. In Lebanon’s southern conflict zone, aid to struggling villagers became as or more important than mounting patrols and manning checkpoints.

After withdrawing in 1985 from all but a wide band of territory along the border, Israel faced a new, determined and effective enemy, Hizbullah, which had undercover fighters in every town and village in the south. The movement was initially antagonistic towards Unifil but eventually established unofficial, cool relations with Goksel.

To give publicity to the occupation, Goksel guided media to “hot” areas where Israelis confronted villagers. To advertise Unifil’s humanitarian efforts, he took journalists to Tibnin where Irish peacekeepers had formed warm relationships with townspeople.

The late British correspondent Robert Fisk described him as “perhaps the most powerful man in southern Lebanon [since he could] lift his phone and within five minutes call [Israel’s] northern front commander and Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, chairman of the Hizbullah”.

It has been one long rollercoaster ride, at times hair-raising but definitely memorable

Hizbullah expelled Israel from south Lebanon on May 24th, 2000. Goskel dismissed post evacuation Israeli predictions of chaos and violence and said the Lebanese army and security forces had moved into evacuated areas and UN troops were on alert.

That day towns and villages along the border celebrated liberation with friends and relatives who had not visited for years. Once Unifil delineated the border between Lebanon and Israel, a period of calm descended on the south. The Irish contingent went home in 2001 and Goksel retired in 2003.

Before departing, he wrote, “seven close calls including roadside bombs, a couple of suicide attacks and five too damned close firings including two with 120mm mortars on my office building, it is time. It has been one long rollercoaster ride, at times hair-raising but definitely memorable.”

He remained in Beirut to become editor of Al-Monitor website’s coverage of Turkey and to teach at the American University of Beirut. He always welcomed visiting journalists for coffee and a chat. He is survived by his wife, Nilgun, daughter, Zeynep, and son, Emir.