Obituary: Roger Short

Mr Short leaves a wife and three children

The UK's Consul-General in Istanbul, Roger Short, who was killed on Thursday, was a career diplomat with long experience of Turkey.

Roger Short was born in 1944 and was educated at Malvern College and University College, Oxford.

He joined the Diplomatic Service straight after leaving Oxford and was posted overseas for the first time in 1969 as a junior diplomat in the Turkish capital, Ankara.

Next he served in Rio de Janeiro before returning to Ankara in 1981, serving as Head of Chancery at the UK embassy.

After a five-year posting to Oslo and three years as head of the Foreign Office's Personnel Services Department, Mr Short became UK ambassador to Bulgaria in 1994.

While serving in Bulgaria, he objected to a 1998 Foreign Office initiative which would have involved scrapping his palatial Sofia residence, which had recently been refurbished for more than £2m.

Our prayers are with all in Istanbul at this time, and especially with all who we know personally Archbishop of Canterbury

The scheme, called Embassy 2000, and which aimed to create campus-style embassies combining commercial and cultural facilities, was scrapped.

Mr Short served as Chief of Staff at the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina until 2000, when he became Consul-General and Director of Trade Promotion in Istanbul.

Mr Short, a fluent Turkish speaker, was made a Member of the Victorian Order in 1971. He leaves a wife, Vicky, two daughters, Katherine and Lizzie, and a son, Thomas.

Earlier this week he was entertaining the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.

Paying tribute to the dead man, the archbishop spoke of the "generous and warm hospitality" he enjoyed in Turkey.

"I cannot easily express the shock and grief that I and my family and staff are feeling."

He added: "Our prayers are with all in Istanbul at this time, and especially with all who we know personally."