Barbara Miklič Türk, First Lady of Slovenia

Barbara Miklič Türk, First Lady of Slovenia

Mrs Barbara Miklič Türk was born in 1948 in Ljubljana in a middle class family. Her father was a mining and geophysics engineer and her mother was a physician specialized in microbiology, epidemiology and tropical medicine. As a teenager, she spent some time with her family in Khartoum, Sudan, where her father was sent under a bilateral technical assistance agreement. Mrs Türk attended the Montessori Sisters’ School with English as the language of instruction, and became familiar with the multicultural environment of that part of Africa. Upon return from Sudan to Slovenia she completed her high school education and enrolled in the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana where she studied English and Russian languages and literature.

In 1975 she was employed by the Association for the United Nations for the Republic of Slovenia, where, among other things, she took care of the Association’s library and reading room and managed the documentation. There she met her future husband, Danilo Türk, who was an active member of the Association and often came to study in the library. They married in 1976, and in 1980 their daughter Helena was born.

Mrs Barbara Miklič Türk accompanied her husband to various conferences to Geneva where she helped him with his research and translating legal texts on human rights. Between 1992 and 2005 she lived in New York. In September 1992 her husband was appointed Ambassador, Head of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Slovenia to the United Nations in New York, and later assumed the position of Assistant Secretary-General of the UN. As a spouse of an ambassador and later of a high ranking UN official she made a variety of international contacts and contributed to the promotion of Slovenia in the world. She was First Vice President and later President of the United Nations Delegations Women’s Club (UNDWC). She organized and actively participated in various social, cultural and humanitarian events of the club. She also took part in other groups and activities of UN diplomats’ spouses and was a member of the Executive Board of the Women’s International Forum (WIF). She was also an honorary visitor in two prestigious women’s clubs in New York (Colony Club, Cosmopolitan Club). In August 2005 Mr and Mrs Türk returned to Ljubljana.

Mrs Barbara Miklič Türk has a broad classical education and has a broad humanitarian view on world issues. She admires classical music and arts. As the spouse of the third president of the Republic of Slovenia, Mrs Barbara Miklič Türk intends to engage in a variety of social causes in the fields of education, health, social welfare and culture.