Turki Al Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud | |||||
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Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud | |||||
Director of the General Intelligence | |||||
In office | 1979–2001 | ||||
Predecessor | Kamal Adham | ||||
Successor | Nawwaf bin Abdulaziz | ||||
Ambassador to the United States | |||||
In office | 2005–2007 | ||||
Predecessor | Bandar bin Sultan | ||||
Successor | Adel Al Jubeir | ||||
Born |
Mecca |
15 February 1945 ||||
Spouse | Nouf bint Fahd bin Khalid Al Saud | ||||
Issue |
Faisal Abdulaziz |
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House | House of Saud | ||||
Father | King Faisal | ||||
Mother | Iffat Al-Thunayan | ||||
Religion | Islam |
Full name | |
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Turki al-Faisal Al Saud Turki bin Faisal Al Saud Turki al-Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud |
Turki bin Faisal Al Saud (Arabic:تركي الفيصل) (born 15 February 1945), known also as Turki al-Faisal, is a Saudi politician and diplomat. A member of the House of Saud, he currently serves as the chairman of King Faisal Foundation's Center for Research and Islamic Studies.
From 1977 to 2001, Prince Turki was the director general of Al Mukhabarat Al A'amah, Saudi Arabia's intelligence agency, resigning the position on 1 September 2001, some ten days before the September 11 attacks in which 14 Saudi nationals hijacked commercial American airliners. Prince Turki subsequently served as ambassador to the Court of St. James's and the United States.
Prince Turki was born on 15 February 1945 in Mecca. He is the eighth and youngest son of the late King Faisal and Iffat Al-Thunayyan who died on 17 February 2000. He is full-brother of Mohammed bin Faisal, Saud bin Faisal, Luluwah bint Faisal and Haifa bint Faisal.
Turki bin Faisal received his primary and some secondary education at a school in Taif built by his parents. When he was fourteen, his father sent him to Princeton, New Jersey to complete his secondary education at the Lawrenceville School, from which he graduated in 1963. He then attended the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, graduating in the class of 1968 (alongside future U.S. President Bill Clinton). Turki also did post-graduate work at Princeton,Cambridge, and the University of London, where he took courses in Islamic law and jurisprudence.